Comparison of Plasma Carcinoembryonic Antigen Levels among Stage, Degree of Differentiation, Histopathological Subtype and Topography of Colorectal Cancer in Ugandan Patients

Wismayer R, Kiwanuka J, Wabinga H and Odida M

Published on: 2024-09-22

Abstract

Introduction: Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is the most widely used tumour marker in Uganda and globally. This study was aimed to investigate the preoperative plasma CEA level and compare to clinicopathological features in Ugandan colorectal cancer patients.

Methodology: A prospective study was used on 119 recruited colorectal cancer (CRC) participants. A 10mls blood sample was taken preoperatively from all the participants to obtain the CEA level in ng/ml. ANOVA and student’s t-test were used to compare mean CEA levels. Pearson chi-square tests were used to determine any association between CEA levels and clinicopathological variables. A p-value of ≤0.05 was statistically significant.

Results: The mean age of all the participants was 55.9(+/-15.3) years whilst the mean CEA level was 23.6(+/-8.51) ng/ml. There was no significant difference between preoperative plasma CEA and topography (p=0.775), stage (p=0.813), grade (p=0.505) and histopathological subtype (p=0.940).

Conclusions: There was no difference in preoperative plasma CEA levels based on histopathological grade, stage, topography and histopathological subtype of CRC in Ugandan patients.