Preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen and prognosis of colorectal cancer. An independent prognostic factor still reliable.

To evaluate whether, in a sample of patients radically treated for colorectal carcinoma, the preoperative determination of the carcinoembryonic antigen (p-CEA) may have a prognostic value and constitute an independent risk factor in relation to disease-free survival. The preoperative CEA seems to be related both to the staging of colorectal neoplasia and to the patient's prognosis, although this-to date-has not been conclusively demonstrated and is still a matter of intense debate in the scientific community. This is a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data. A total of 395 patients were radically treated for colorectal carcinoma. The preoperative CEA was statistically compared with the 2010 American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging, the T and N parameters, and grading. All parameters recorded in our database were tested for an association with disease-free survival (DFS). Only factors significantly associated (P < 0.05) with the DFS were used to build multivariate stepwise forward logistic regression models to establish their independent predictors. A statistically significant relationship was found between p-CEA and tumor staging (P < 0.001), T (P < 0.001) and N parameters (P = 0.006). In a multivariate analysis, the independent prognostic factors found were: p-CEA, stages N1 and N2 according to AJCC, and G3 grading (grade). A statistically significant difference (P < 0.001) was evident between the DFS of patients with normal and high p-CEA levels. Preoperative CEA makes a pre-operative selection possible of those patients for whom it is likely to be able to predict a more advanced staging.