ArticleBMC cancer2023
Persistent high levels of carcinoembryonic antigen after tumor resection are associated with poorer survival outcomes in patients with resected colon cancer.
Article in BMC cancer, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Carcinoembryonic antigen as a predictor of treatment outcomes in cancer patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors.Annals of medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Built-in thiol mesoporous carbon immunosensor to detect carcinoembryonic antigen in human serum.Mikrochimica acta · 2026Article
- Perioperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen: Powerful marker for prognostic prediction and adjuvant chemotherapy decision-making in patients with stage II and III colorectal cancer.World journal of gastroenterology · 2026Article
- Prognostic Value of Albumin-to-CEA Ratio in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: A Retrospective Study.Biomedicines · 2026Article
- Modeling unobserved heterogeneity in multistate event history data using frailty and weighted survival approaches.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Clinical Outcomes after Intracorporeal versus Extracorporeal Anastomosis in Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Right Hemicolectomy for Colon Cancer.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Article
- CEA vaccines.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundInterindividual survival and recurrence rates in cases of locoregional colon cancer following surgical resection are highly variable. The aim of the present study was to determine whether elevated pre-operative and post-operative CEA values are useful prognostic biomarkers for patients with stage I-III colon cancer who underwent surgery with curative intent.
methodsWe conducted a retrospective study in patients with histologically confirmed stage I-III primary colonic adenocarcinoma who underwent radical surgical resection at Mexico's National Cancer Institute, between January 2008 and January 2020. We determined pre-operative and post-operative CEA and analyzed the association of scores with poorer survival outcomes in patients with resected colon cancer, considering overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS).
resultsWe included 640 patients with stage I-III colon cancer. Pre-operative CEA levels were in the normal range in 460 patients (group A) and above the reference value in the other 180. Of the latter, 134 presented normalized CEA levels after surgery, but 46 (group C) continued to show CEA levels above the reference values after surgery. Therefore, propensity score matching (PSM) was carried out to reduce the bias. Patients were adjusted at a 1:1:1 ratio with 46 in each group, to match the number in the smallest group. Median follow- up was 46.4 months (range, 4.9-147.4 months). Median DFS was significantly shorter in Group C: 55.5 months (95% CI 39.6-71.3) than in the other two groups [Group A: 77.1 months (95% CI 72.6-81.6). Group B: 75.7 months (95% CI 66.8-84.5) (p-value < 0.001)]. Overall survival was also significantly worse in group C [57.1 (95% CI 37.8-76.3) months] than in group A [82.8 (95% CI 78.6-86.9 months] and group B [87.1 (95% CI 79.6-94.5 months] (p-value = 0.002). To identify whether change in CEA levels operative and post-surgery was an independent prognostic factor for survival outcomes, a Cox proportional hazard model was applied. In multivariate analysis, change in CEA level was a statistically significant, independent prognostic factor for overall survival (p-value = 0.031).
conclusionsWhen assessed collectively, pre-operative and post-operative CEA values are useful biomarkers for predicting survival outcomes in patients with resected colon cancer. Prognoses are worse for patients with elevated pre-operative and post-surgical CEA values, but similar in patients with normal post-surgical values, regardless of their pre-surgery values.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.