DETECTION OF BENIGN OR MALIGNANT ORIGIN OF ASCITES WITH COMBINED INDIRECT IMMUNOPEROXIDASE ASSAYS OF CARCINOEMBRYONIC ANTIGEN AND LYSOZYME

Google Scholar
  • 1 January 1985
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 29  (1) , 57-62
Abstract
The indirect immunoperoxidase method was used to study the presence of the intracellular carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and lysozyme (LZ) in alcohol-fixed cytologic smears of peritoneal fluids from 2 patients with chronic active hepatitis, 31 patients with liver cirrhosis and 7 patients with malignant liver disease. In the 2 patients with hepatitis, LZ was positive in both and CEA was positive in one and negative in the other. Of the 31 patients with liver cirrhosis, 21 (67.5%) were LZ positive, 27 (87%) were CEA negative and only 4 (13%) were CEA positive. Of the 7 patients with malignant disease, 6 were CEA positive and 6 were LZ negative. It is of interest that 23 of 24 (96%) LZ-positive results and 28 of 29 (97%) CEA-negative results corresponded to negative cytologic diagnoses for malignancy. Cytologic diagnosis of reactive mesothelial cells seemed to correlate better (71%) with CEA-negative and LZ-positive results. The investigation of CEA and LZ in the cells of peritoneal fluids appears to have promise as an adjunct to cytology in differentiating benign from malignant origins of the fluid.