Timeliness of postoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen monitoring for predicting recurrence after gastric cancer surgery

Table 3 Comparison of preoperative and postoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen, alpha-fetoprotein, and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 levels between groups

Group	CEA (ng/mL)			CA19-9 (U/mL)			AFP (μg/L)
	Post-1 week	Post-3 months	Post-6 months	Post-1 week	Post-3 months	Post-6 months	Post-1 week	Post-3 months	Post-6 months
Recurrence group (n = 39)	16.11 ± 3.18	25.23 ± 4.08a	29.12 ± 4.26a,b	26.34 ± 5.17	29.19 ± 5.08a	35.27 ± 4.16a,b	20.13 ± 3.27	24.29 ± 3.18a	27.15 ± 3.41a,b
Non-recurrence group (n = 81)	16.09 ± 3.22	19.12 ± 3.18a	21.11 ± 4.17a,b	26.24 ± 5.17	22.47 ± 5.15a	26.08 ± 3.86a,b	20.09 ± 3.23	22.21 ± 3.32a	24.32 ± 3.41a
t value	0.322	9.317	10.441	0.989	7.297	12.576	0.063	3.416	4.298
P value	0.064	0.000	0.000	0.103	< 0.01	0.000	0.074	0.000	0.001

^aP < 0.05 vs the same group at one week postoperatively.

^bP < 0.05 vs three months postoperatively.

CEA: Carcinoembryonic antigen; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein; CA19-9: Carbohydrate antigen 19-9.