This study is an evaluation of serum levels in the tumor markers CA 19-9 and CA 72-4 in gastric cancer patients in preoperative, postoperative and follow-up periods. These tumor markers were measured in 35 patients with primary gastric carcinoma (28 advanced stage, 7 early stage), 27 with benign gastric disease and 20 healthy control subjects. Serum CA 72-4 levels were found to have increased (>6.7kU/l) in 16 (14 with advanced stage, 2 with early stage) patients with primary gastric carcinoma. Serum CA 19-9 levels were elevated (>22kU/l) in 9 patients with primary gastric carcinoma (8 with advanced stage, 1 with early stage) and 3 of patients with benign gastric disease, respectively. Only 19 out of 35 patients had follow-up periods of approximately 15 months. During the follow-up period, while all of these 19 cases had lower CA 19-9 levels, only 10 of them had higher CA 72-4 levels than the cut-off points. The sensitivity and specifity of CA 72-4 were determined to be 45% and 100%, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values for CA 72-4 were 100% and 71%, respectively. Specificity and sensitivity of CA 19-9 were 89% and 25%, respectively. Positive and negative predictive values for CA 19-9 were 69% and 62%, respectively. The findings suggest that serum CA 72- 4 may be a useful marker in gastric carcinoma, and its measurement in combination with CA 19-9 may be useful in the clinical management of gastric carcinoma.

This study is an evaluation of serum levels in the tumor markers CA 19-9 and CA 72-4 in gastric cancer patients in preoperative, postoperative and follow-up periods. These tumor markers were measured in 35 patients with primary gastric carcinoma (28 advanced stage, 7 early stage), 27 with benign gastric disease and 20 healthy control subjects. Serum CA 72-4 levels were found to have increased (>6.7kU/l) in 16 (14 with advanced stage, 2 with early stage) patients with primary gastric carcinoma. Serum CA 19-9 levels were elevated (>22kU/l) in 9 patients with primary gastric carcinoma (8 with advanced stage, 1 with early stage) and 3 of patients with benign gastric disease, respectively. Only 19 out of 35 patients had follow-up periods of approximately 15 months. During the follow-up period, while all of these 19 cases had lower CA 19-9 levels, only 10 of them had higher CA 72-4 levels than the cut-off points. The sensitivity and specifity of CA 72-4 were determined to be 45% and 100%, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values for CA 72-4 were 100% and 71%, respectively. Specificity and sensitivity of CA 19-9 were 89% and 25%, respectively. Positive and negative predictive values for CA 19-9 were 69% and 62%, respectively. The findings suggest that serum CA 72- 4 may be a useful marker in gastric carcinoma, and its measurement in combination with CA 19-9 may be useful in the clinical management of gastric carcinoma.