Lei Lei¹, Qi-xun Chen², Zeng Wang³, Na Han¹, Bo Chen⁴, Hongyang Lu¹, Jing Qin²

¹Department of Medical Oncology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, ²Department of surgical Oncology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, ³Department of Pharmacy, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, ⁴Department of Pathology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital

Objective:Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) includes pure SCLC and SCLC combined with other pathologies (C-SCLC). C-SCLC accounts for about 28% of all SCLCs subjected to surgical resection, but only about 1%–3% of C-SCLCs are detected on biopsy. Since less than 5% of SCLC patients are eligible for surgery, it is necessary to develop alternative methods for the detection of C-SCLC. We determined whether serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels, which are usually elevated in lung adenocarcinomas, could be used to differentiate between pure SCLC and SCLC combined with adenocarcinoma. Method:We reviewed the records of 41 SCLC patients (35 with pure SCLC, 6 with C-SCLC) who underwent surgical resection between 2000 and 2014 in Zhejiang Cancer Hospital. Their preoperative serum CEA levels were noted, and the relationship between CEA level and type of SCLC was analyzed. Result: Serum CEA levels>6ng/ml were found more frequently in C-SCLC patients than in pure SCLC patients (P=0.031). Nosuch difference was observed when a CEA cutoff of 5ng/ml was used (P=0.316). Conclusion: A preoperative serum CEA of >6ng/ml may be used as areference in the diagnosis of SCLC combined with adenocarcinoma.

Key Words: Diagnosis  Small cell lung cancer(SCLC)  Carcinoembr