The Clinical Value of Urinary Carcinoembryonic Antigen-Like Substances in Urothelial Cancer

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Abstract
Although there is a positive correlation between the concentration of urinary carcinoembryonic antigen-like substances and urothelial cancer the clinical value of this association is in doubt. Urinary carcinoembryonic antigen values were determined in large numbers of specimens from patients with a variety of urologic diseases but most studies recorded only single measurements at the time of diagnosis. The role of carcinoembryonic antigen was examined in urothelial malignancies by comparing serial carcinoembryonic antigen, and cytologic and histologic analyses done on simultaneously collected urine and tissue specimens. The value of carcinoembryonic antigen as a diagnostic adjunct to cytology in low grade carcinoma and dysplasia, and the role of serial measurements of this substance in followup were of special interest. The results of 102 analyses in 48 patients during a 15 mo. period indicate that urinary carcinoembryonic antigen measurements have little value in the diagnosis of bladder cancer, are of limited usefulness in combination with cytologic studies and are poorly correlated with simultaneously determined cytologic and histologic findings. Although the initial results were not promising serial measurements may be useful in followup.