2024 Asia Conference on Lung Cancer (ACLC) - Poster & ePosters-PP01.38

PP01.38 - Anand Sachithanandan

Pdf Summary

The study aimed to evaluate the use of carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) as a prognostic biomarker in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients undergoing curative surgery. Conducted at Sunway Medical Centre in Malaysia, the research involved 18 histologically confirmed early resectable Stage I-IIIA NSCLC patients, recruited between October 2019 and January 2021. The patients underwent curative anatomical lobectomy with mediastinal lymph node dissection. CEA levels were measured pre-operatively and at multiple intervals (6, 12, 18, and 24 months) post-surgery using an electrochemiluminescent assay. Surveillance PET-CT scans were performed at these same intervals to track disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS).<br /><br />Results indicated that elevated pre-operative CEA levels (over 5.0 ng/ml) were observed in 39% of patients. Importantly, three individuals with high baseline CEA levels showed a reduction to normal levels (below 5.0 ng/ml) at the six-month follow-up. At a median follow-up time of 42 months, the group with elevated pre-operative CEA levels showed a median DFS of 18 months, compared to the group with normal pre-operative CEA levels, which did not reach the median DFS. This difference was statistically significant (p = 0.01). However, there was no significant difference in early overall survival between the high and low CEA groups (p = 0.065).<br /><br />This study concludes that pre-operative serum CEA levels can prognosticate early DFS in resectable early-stage NSCLC. Patients with elevated baseline CEA levels or persistently high post-operative levels could benefit from close biomarker monitoring and imaging surveillance. These findings suggest CEA's potential as an effective tool for identifying individuals at higher risk of disease recurrence post-surgery.

Keywords

carcino-embryonic antigen

CEA

prognostic biomarker

non-small cell lung cancer

NSCLC

curative surgery

disease-free survival

overall survival

biomarker monitoring

disease recurrence