Determination of carcinoembryonic antigen content as a diagnostic and prognostic test in colorectal cancer

: Of the 120 patients with colorectal cancer, 24 had distant metastases of a tumor. In these patients, increase in the level of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and ferritin in the peripheral blood serum was noted as compared with those in patients without tumor metastases (P less than 0.001). Measuring of CEA content in the peripheral and regional blood can be used in preoperative diagnosis of metastases of colorectal cancer.