The correlation between liver scintigraphy and serum CEA levels in the detection of liver metastases from rectum carcinoma. A retrospective study

Radiocolloid liver scintigraphy for the detection of liver metastases is widely used. Because of the known limitations of this technique we investigated the correlation between liver scintigraphy and serum CEA levels in patients with a confirmed diagnosis of primary rectum carcinoma. The serum CEA level is not suitable as a screening test for cancer, but it can be helpful as an extra parameter for the detection of liver metastases. The correlation between liver scintigraphy, the serum CEA level and the clinical findings has also been studied. A good correlation between liver scintigraphy and the serum CEA level was found. Serum CEA levels can be helpful in facilitating the evaluation of liver scintigraphy in patients with carcinoma of the rectum.