A correlative study of bronchial cytology, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and serum tumor markers in the diagnosis of lung carcinoma.

In order to evaluate the diagnostic value of lavage CEA and SCC-Ag in combination with other parameters such as serum CEA and SCC-Ag, sputum and bronchial brushing cytology, we studied 30 patients with lung carcinoma and 12 with nonmalignant lung disease. All four tests combined, resulted in an increase in the predictive accuracy for diagnostic lung carcinoma to 87 per cent, a value which is much above the approximately 50 per cent level achieved by each test alone. Hence lavage CEA and SCC-Ag appears to be a useful accessory test in the diagnosis of lung carcinoma, particularly when combined with other diagnostic procedures currently in use.