Carcinoembryonic Antigen

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Abstract
• Plasma carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was studied in 60 patients with histologically confirmed intraocular neoplasms including 56 malignant melanomas of the uvea and four metastatic tumors to the choroid. While 45% of the patients with primary uveal melanomas, as well as 75% of the patients with metastatic disease demonstrated elevated plasma CEA levels, both patients who exhibited metastatic lesions of entodermal origin demonstrated plasma CEA values that clearly fell into a separate, highly elevated category, consistent with metastatic disease or pancreatic or colorectal carcinoma. Thus, in the patient seen with a nonpigmented choroidal mass that may represent either a choroidal hemangioma, amelanotic melanoma, or metastatic tumor, plasma CEA levels may be useful in the differential diagnosis. If the clinician suspects a metastatic tumor from an occult primary site, highly elevated CEA levels may indicate that the lesion is of entodermal origin.