Clinical value of preoperative serum tumor markers CEA, CA19-9, CA125, and CA15-3 in surgically treated urachal cancer

•Serum tumor markers can be elevated in surgically treated urachal adenocarcinoma.•CEA, CA19-9, CA125, CA15-3 serum levels were evaluated before surgery.•Preoperative elevated CEA was most common and associated with poor tumor features.•Preoperative elevated serum tumor markers were not linked with prognosis. Urachal adenocarcinoma (UrAC) is a very rare malignancy with a poor prognosis. The role of preoperative serum tumor markers (STMs) in UrAC is unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical value of elevated STMs including carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cancer antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), cancer antigen 125 (CA125), and cancer antigen 15-3 (CA15-3) in surgically treated UrAC, and to evaluate their prognostic significance. This was a retrospective study of consecutive patients with histopathologically confirmed UrAC who underwent surgical treatment at a single tertiary hospital. Blood levels of CEA, CA19-9, CA125, and CA15-3 were determined before surgery. The proportion of patients with elevated STMs was calculated, as well as the association between elevated STMs and clinicopathological characteristics, recurrence-free survival and disease-specific survival. Of the 50 patients included; CEA, CA 19-9, CA125, and CA15-3 were elevated in 40%, 25%, 26%, and 6% respectively. Elevated CEA was associated with higher pT-stage (odds ratio [OR] 3.3 [95% confidence interval 1.0–11.1], P = 0.003), higher Sheldon stage (OR 6.9 [95% CI 0.8–60.4], P = 0.01), male sex (OR 4.7 [95% CI 1.2–18.3], P = 0.01), and the presence of peritoneal metastases at the time of diagnosis (OR 3.5 [95% CI 0.9–14.2], P = 0.04). Elevated CA19-9 was associated with signet-cell component (OR 1.7 [95% CI 0.9–3.3], P = 0.03) and elevated CA125 was associated with peritoneal metastases at the time of diagnosis (OR 6.0 [95% CI 1.2–30.6], P = 0.04). Elevated STMs before surgery were not associated with recurrence-free survival and/or disease-specific survival. A subset of patients with surgically treated UrAC has elevated STMs preoperatively. CEA was most frequently (40%) elevated and correlated with unfavorable tumor characteristics. However, STM levels did not correlate with prognostic outcomes.