A study of plasma CEA by a direct radioimmunoassay method in 1704 cases.

The authors have used an original method of direct radioimmunoassay of plasma CEA for testing plasma of 1704 patients affetected by various neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases. The percentage of positive results in blood from patients with adenocarcinoma of the gastroenteric tract was 66.8%. The positivity in other non-neoplastic diseases was 2.7%, except for liver cirrhosis and other chronic hepatopathies, which showed 29.6% of positive reactions. The test should be clinically useful in the differential diagnosis of gastro-enteric carcinoma.