Abstract
Exponential decreases in Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) levels of 44 patients were monitored. These patients received surgery for gastric or colon cancers, and their CEA levels were very high before surgery. twenty-five patients who had no recurrence for 1 or more years showed constant decrease of CEA levels with 4 to 5 day half life periods until the level reached the normal range. On the other hand, the lines or curves of CEA decreases obtained for 13 of the 19 patients who had recurrences, showed dissociation from the theoretical line of the half life period before the level decreased to the normal range. We understood that this dissociation was caused by the growth of residual cancers.
We concluded that a much earlier detection of remaining cancer and an earlier prediction of recurrence is possible by detecting the dissociation of the actual decrease in CEA levels from the half life period line.
