Studies on carcinoembryonic antigen levels in patients with adenocarcinoma of the uterus.

Carcinoembryonic antigen was determined before treatment in 101 patients with adenocarcinoma of the uterus. If 2.5 ng/ml is accepted as the upper normal value, 34% of the patients with cancer of the corpus had elevated levels. Only 7% had values exceeding 5 ng/ml. The highest recorded value in endometrial carcinoma was 8.5 ng/ml. In adenocarcinoma of the cervix 68% had values over 2.5 ng/ml and a direct correlation between nodal metastases and plasma elevation of CEA was found. The highest recorded value for endocervical cancer was 108 ng/ml. No patient with localized disease had a value over 4.0 ng/ml. It is concluded that adenocarcinomas of the cervix and corpus have different biological properties, and that in adenocarcinoma of the cervix determination of CEA is a reliable indicator of the extent of disease.