Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) can increase serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels. We thus aimed to evaluate the impact of CKD on CEA prognostic accuracy in colorectal cancer.
Methods: Altogether, 429 patients who underwent curative resection for stages I-III colorectal adenocarcinoma were grouped according to postoperative CEA levels and history of CKD.
Results: Three-year disease-free survival (DFS) was higher in patients with normal postoperative CEA (group A, 83.4%) than in those with elevated postoperative CEA (group B, 64.3%) (p < 0.001). CKD patients had higher postoperative CEA levels than non-CKD patients (odds ratio 3.27, 95% confidence interval 1.78-5.99, p < 0.001). In multivariable analysis, postoperative CEA level was an independent prognostic factor for DFS in non-CKD, but not CKD, patients.
Conclusions: CKD can increase postoperative CEA levels in colorectal cancer patients. Elevated postoperative CEA levels were associated with shorter DFS in non-CKD, but not CKD, patients.
Keywords: Carcinoembryonic antigen; Chronic kidney disease; Colorectal cancer.
Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.