Gastric Cancer: Tumor Markers as Predictive Factors for Preoperative Staging

Introduction CEA, CA 19-9, and CA 72-4 are tumor markers commonly used for gastric neoplasms. The clinical importance of the preoperative serum levels of these tumor markers in gastric cancer (GC) is not well known. Even less is known about the predictive value of the preoperative serum levels of the β-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCGβ). Aims and Methods We designed a prospective study to evaluate the significance of the preoperative values of these tumor markers in GC. The serum levels that we considered as positive are as follows: CA 72-4, >4 U/ml; CEA, >5 ng/ml; CA 19-9, >37 U/ml; hCGβ-free subunit,