The correlation between value of tumor markers CA 15-3 and CEA on histopathology grading, metastasis, disease free-survival and overall survival in women with breast cancer

• Main Author: Rudy Budijono, Haryasena Haryasena, Prihantono Prihantono, Muhammad Faruk
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bulgarian Association of Young Surgeons 2020-12-01
• Series: International Journal of Surgery and Medicine
• Subjects: breast cancer; grading histopathology; disease free survival; overall survival
• Online Access: http://www.ejos.org/index.php?fulltxt=83776&fulltxtj=136&fulltxtp=136-1580358031.pdf
• ISSN: 2367-699X; 2367-699X

Introduction: CA 15-3 and Carcino Embryonic Antigen (CEA) tumor markers play an important role in the early detection of metastasis and disease recurrence in breast cancer patients. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between increasing CA 15-3 and CEA marker values on histopathology grading, breast cancer metastasis, Disease-Free Survival (DFS), and Overall Survival (OS) in breast cancer patients. Methods: This was an observational analytic study using a retrospective cohort design with a 36 months follow-up period. Results: A total of 110 samples showed a significant relationship between the increased value of CA 15-3 and an increase in histopathology grading (p=0.032). However, there was no significant relationship between the increased value of CEA and an increase in histopathology grading (p=0.050). There were significant relationships between the increase in the value of CA 15-3 and CEA and the number of metastatic sites (p=0.002 and p=0.001). An increase in CA 15-3 was significantly associated with brain metastasis (p=0.004), while an increase in CEA was associated with liver and brain metastasis (p=0.012 and p=0.032). An increase in the value of CA 15-3 dan CEA also significantly reduced DFS and OS (p<0.001 and p<0.001). Conclusion: Elevated CA-15-3 and CEA level post-surgery were found to be associated with some metastatic sites, decreased DFS, and OS. Histopathology grading correlated with elevated CA 15-3. Moreover, a high CEA marker was correlated with liver and brain metastasis, while an elevated CA 15-3 marker was associated with brain metastasis.