Determination of pretreatment serum CEA and SCCA in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma

ABSTRACT

tumor markers in the diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Serum levels of two tumor markers (carcinoembryonic antigen [CEA] and squamous cell carcinoma antigen [SCCA]) were simultaneously measured by radioimmunoassay in 21 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and in 22 patients with oral benign diseases. The positive rates were 19.05% for CEA and 47.62% for SCCA in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma. The sensitivity of the combination assay (52.38%) was higher than that obtained with individual markers, but specificity was low in combination assay. Serum CEA seems to be inadequate for diagnostic purpose, but serum SCCA may be useful for diagnostic purpose in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma. A combination assay may be useful in the diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma.