Dilek ON, Arslan Kahraman Dİ, Kahraman G. Carcinoembryonic antigen in the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of focal liver lesions. World J Gastrointest Surg 2024; 16(4): 999-1007 [PMID: 38690060 DOI: 10.4240/wjgs.v16.i4.999]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Osman Nuri Dilek, FACS, Professor, Department of Surgery, İzmir Katip Celebi University, School of Medicine, Basın Sitesi, İzmir 35150, Turkey. osmannuridilek@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Surgery
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastrointest Surg. Apr 27, 2024; 16(4): 999-1007 Published online Apr 27, 2024. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v16.i4.999
Carcinoembryonic antigen in the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of focal liver lesions
Osman Nuri Dilek, Dilara İrem Arslan Kahraman, Gökhan Kahraman
Osman Nuri Dilek, Department of Surgery, İzmir Katip Celebi University, School of Medicine, İzmir 35150, Turkey
Dilara İrem Arslan Kahraman, Department of Patology, Merzifon KMP State Hospital, Amasya 5300, Turkey
Gökhan Kahraman, Department of Radiology, Suluova State Hospital, Amasya 5500, Turkey
Author contributions: Dilek ON designed the overall concept and outline of the manuscript; Arslan Kahraman Dİ and Kahraman G contributed the contemporary data related to pathology and radiology to the discussion; Kahraman G and Dilek ON also contributed to the writing, editing, and review of the literature.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Osman Nuri Dilek, FACS, Professor, Department of Surgery, İzmir Katip Celebi University, School of Medicine, Basın Sitesi, İzmir 35150, Turkey. osmannuridilek@gmail.com
Received: January 7, 2024 Peer-review started: January 7, 2024 First decision: January 30, 2024 Revised: February 2, 2024 Accepted: March 13, 2024 Article in press: March 13, 2024 Published online: April 27, 2024
Abstract
In this editorial review, we comment on the article published in the recent issue of the World Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a fetal glycoprotein and can be secreted in very small amounts from healthy adults after birth. CEA is widely used not only for diagnostic tumor markers but also importantly for the management of some gastrointestinal tumors. The most common clinical use is surveillance for the monitoring of colorectal carcinoma. However, CEA can become elevated in several malign or benign characterized pathologies. Serum CEA level may vary depending on the location of the lesion, whether it metastasizes or not, and its histopathological characteristics. It has been determined that cases with high preoperative CEA have a more aggressive course and the risk of metastasis to the lymph tissue and liver increases. In this editorial review, we focused on evaluating the role of CEA in clinical practice with a holistic approach, including the diagnostic and prognostic significance of CEA in patients with focal liver lesions, the role of CEA in follow-up after definitive surgery, and also hepatic resection for metastasis, and the management of all patients with raised CEA.
Core Tip: Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is not normally produced in significant quantities after birth but is mainly elevated in colorectal cancer and some other pathologies. CEA is widely used not only for diagnostic tumor markers but also importantly for the management of some gastrointestinal tumors. In this study, the relationship of CEA with clinical, radiological, and histopathological evaluations in the diagnosis and treatment of focal liver lesions detected in the liver was evaluated with a holistic approach.
