Clinical significance of multiple tumor markers in the diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma

Objective To investigate the clinical significance of multiple tumor markers in the early diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma.Methods 165 patients with histopathologically confirmed cholangiocarcinoma and 25 patients with gallstone canceration were enrolled in this study.36 patients with gallstones and 46 patients with bile duct stenosis were enrolled as controls.The determinations of multiple tumor markers,including carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA),CA125,CA153,CA242,CA19-9,alpha-fIetoprotein (AFP) and Ferritin,of all subjects and the imageological determinations of all the patients with cholangiocarcinoma and with gallstone canceration were analysed retrospectively.Comparisons between the groups were performed using the likelihood ratio test of the Chi-square test.Results CA19-9 had the highest sensitivity and specificity (83.6％ and 96.3％ respectively) for cholangiocarcinoma,and CA242 had a high sensitivity for gallstone canceration though it was not so sensitive in cholangiocarcinoma.Multiple tumor markers increased the sensitivity and specificity in the early diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma.Compared with imageological determinations,multiple tumor markers had a higher sensitivity for the early diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma with a tumor mass ＜1 cm.Conclusion Multiple tumor markers have important clinical values in the early diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma. Key words: Bile duct neoplasms;  Cholelithiasis;  Diagnosis;  Tumor markers