Carbohydrate antigen 19-9 predicts synchronous peritoneal carcinomatosis in patients with colorectal cancer

Abstract

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) with peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) has the worst prognosis among all types of metastases, but is difficult to diagnose. This study investigated whether preoperative serum carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 level can predict synchronous PC in patients with primary CRC. Patients and Methods: The cases of 395 CRC patients who underwent primary lesion resection were retrospectively reviewed. Risk factors were evaluated by uni-and multivariate analyses from clinicopathological data. Results: In the univariate analysis, tumor invasion (p<0.001), lymph node and hematogenous metastases (p=0.037 and p<0.001, respectively), and elevated preoperative serum CA19-9 level (p<0.001) were associated with synchronous PC, and multiple regression analysis revealed that an elevated preoperative serum CA19-9 level was an independent risk factor for PC (odds ratio=5.03, 95% confidence interval=1.29-19.60, p=0.020). Conclusion: Elevated preoperative serum CA 19-9 level may be useful in predicting synchronous PC in patients with CRC.