Role of serum carcinoembryonic antigen in the detection of colorectal cancer before and after surgical resection

Table 5 Correlation between serum carcinoembryonic antigen levels in patients with recurrent colorectal cancer and clinicopathologic characteristics n (%)

Clinicopathologic characteristics	S-CEA levels in patients with recurrent CRC		P value
	≤ 5 ng/mL	> 5 ng/mL
Gender
Male	27 (40.3)	40 (59.7)	0.097
Female	14 (60.9)	9 (39.1)
Age (yr)
≤ 40	7 (53.8)	6 (46.2)	0.805
40-60	13 (43.3)	17 (56.7)
≥ 60	21 (44.7)	26 (55.3)
Preoperative S-CEA
≤ 5 ng/mL	31 (67.4)	15 (32.6)	0.001
> 5 ng/mL	10 (22.7)	34 (77.3)
Location
Colon	17 (44.7)	21 (55.3)	0.894
Rectum	24 (46.2)	28 (53.8)
Differentiation
Well	22 (37.9)	36 (62.1)	0.051
Poor	19 (59.4)	13 (40.6)
PT
T1	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	0.438
T2	5 (41.7)	7 (58.3)
T3	19 (40.4)	28 (59.6)
T4	17 (54.8)	14 (45.2)
PN
N0	14 (46.7)	16 (53.3)	0.364
N1	14 (37.8)	23 (62.2)
N2	13 (56.5)	10 (43.5)

CRC: Colorectal cancer; PT: Pathologic T stage; PN: Pathologic N stage; S-CEA: Serum levels of carcinoembryonic antigen.