Aim: To evaluate the importance and potential of Cyfra21-1 as a tumor marker (TM) for follow-up of patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer.
Patients and methods: Cyfra21-1 serum levels of 50 patients with laryngeal and hypopharyngeal SCC were evaluated by ECLIA assay. Statistical analysis was performed using Kruskal-Wallis and Jonckheere-Terpstra tests.
Results: There was no significant correlation between Cyfra21-1 levels at the time of initial diagnosis and the clinicopathological parameters. The clinical performance of Cyfra 21-1 as an individual tumor marker for follow-up of patients was good. This is shown by the area under the curve (0.873) of their receiver operating characteristic curves. The sensitivity and specificity of Cyfra 21-1 at a cut-off 3.3 ng/ml ere 61.1% and 96.9% respectively.
Conclusion: Cyfra 21-1 is not suitable for early diagnosis of SCC of the larynx and hypopharynx. An abrupt increase of Cyfra 21-1 in serial measurements indicates impending disease progression in individual patients.