A collaborative study for the evaluation of a serologic test for primary liver cancer

Abstract

Sera from 813 patients were examined independently by 3 test centers for the presence of alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP). The sera were collected at 5 different African centers and 2 non‐African centers. There was disagreement in the serologic results among the 3 test laboratories in only 27, or 3.3%, of cases. A clinical and/or histologic diagnosis of primary liver cancer had been made in 231 of the cases in which there was serologic agreement, and 151, or 65.4%, of these were positive for AFP. If only those cases with histologic confirmation of liver cell cancer were included, the percentage of cases with AFP increases to 75%. Analysis of the results from each collection center has been made, and the basis for “false‐positives” and serologic disagreements is discussed. The test has proven to be highly specific for primary liver cell cancer and may be used with advantage in differential diagnosis of this disease and in epidemiologic studies. Copyright © 1970 American Cancer Society