A Study of Relationship between the Level of Serum SCC Antigen and Recurrence Patterns after Treatment of Uterine Cervix Cancer / 대한방사선종양학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Serum squamous cell (SCC) antigen levels were examined in uterine cervix cancer undergoing radiation therapy, and authors analyzed the relationship between SCC antigen levels and treatment results. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a retrospective study of 181 cervical carcinoma patients who received radiotherapy and examined serial serum SCC antigen from 1991 to 1997 at Soonchunhyang University Hospital. One hundred and eighteen patients underwent SCC antigen evaluation at diagnosis The relationship between the serum tumor marker level and disease free survival, recurrence pattern, and other prognostic factors were analyzed according to various statistical methods. RESULTS: The positivity rate (initial serum value above 2.5 ng/ml) was increased with FIGO stage (IB-IIA 57% to IV 91%) and more discriminative than cutoff value of 1.5 ng/ml. Five year disease free survival rates for the stage IB-IIA, IIB, III and IV were 79.2%, 68.7%, 33.4% and 0%, respectively. The 5-year disease free survival rate for patients with serum SCC antigen levels above 5.0 ng/ml was 34% versus 55~62% for patients with normal range (<1.5 ng/ml) or mildly elevated levels (1.5~5.0 ng/ml). Rising SCC antigen levels preceded the clinical detection of disease by a mean of 4.8 months (range 1~13 months). Negative linear corelation was observed between initial SCC antigen levels and relapse free survival (r=-0.226), and by multivariate analysis, initial SCC antigen level had a large impact on the relapse free survival. CONCLUSIONS: SCC antigen assay is a useful aid to predict the prognosis of squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix and to detect recurrence.