Plasma carcinoembryonic antigen levels in ovarian cancer patients: a chart review and survey of published data.

To evaluate the significance of plasma levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in patients with ovarian cancer, a chart review of such patients from May 1974 to August 1978 was undertaken, along with a literature survey in order to consolidate the data for analysis. The data indicate the CEA levels are consistently lower in ovarian cancer than in colorectal cancer and that the assay is not of value in the primary diagnosis of ovarian cancer. It may, however, be of prognostic significance in that advanced disease and undifferentiated tumors which carry the worst prognoses demonstrate elevated CEA levels with higher frequency. CEA levels may also be of value in assessing the response to therapy and in detecting recurrent disease. Patients who demonstrated good clinical responses to therapy showed a drop to low plasma CEA levels while patients with poor responses showed no decrease or a rise in CEA levels. Moreover, CEA rose again after a postoperative drop in patients with recurrent disease before they demonstrated clinical evidence of recurrence. The relationship of plasma levels to tissue levels of CEA and to histologic type of ovarian carcinoma remains unclear.