[Urinary carcinoembryonic antigen in patients with urothelial tumors. Correlations with the stage of the disease and the modal chromosome number].

The carcino-embrionary antigen was estimated in 26 patients without malignant diseases (15 with inguinal hernia and 11 with urinary lithiasis--all of them before surgery), and in 47 patients with urothelial tumors. The direct radioimmune technique was used (a commercial kit from France /CEA IRE SORIN/) applied to isolated samples of sterile urine obtained at 12 hours. It was noted that:--patients without urologic disturbances had values under 1.5 micrograms in 12 hours in 93.4% of the cases;--in 44% of patients with non-malignant urological diseases (urinary lithiasis) the antigen values ranged between 1.5 and 3.0 micrograms in 12 hours;--patients with urothelial tumors had high values of the urinary carcinoembrionary antigen, in the range between 1.92 and 162.5 micrograms;--concentration of the urinary carcino-embionary antigen increases with the stage of the disease, with tumor polyploidia and in tumors with a high degree of anaplasia;--10--14 days after the removal of the tumor the values of the carcino-embrionary antigen show a significant decrease, even after total cystectomy but with cutaneous uretherostomy.