Prognostic significance of CEA expression by RT-PCR in peritoneal wash from patients with gastric cancer: result of a 5-year follow-up after curative resection

Objective: Peritoneal recurrence is the most common cause of death after surgery for gastric cancer. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis has been used to detect free cancer cells in peritoneal wash during surgery. This study was conducted to evaluate the prognostic significance of carcinoembrionic antigen (CEA) mRNA detected by RT-PCR in peritoneal wash from patients with gastric cancer after curative resection through a 5-year follow-up.Materials and methods: Peritoneal wash were obtained from 117 patients who underwent curative surgery for gastric cancer. The association between the CEA RT-PCR results, clinicopathological factors, and factors affecting gastric cancer recurrence were evaluated.Results: Among the 117 cases, 38 (32.5%) revealed positive CEA expression. Patients with positive CEA expression showed a higher rate of peritoneal recurrence than those with negative CEA expression (p=0.047). Depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage, and CEA expression were factors affecting recurrence. CEA expression and depth of invasion were significant prognostic factors in a multivariate analysis, and CEA expression was the most important prognostic factor for recurrence in patients who had undergone curative resection for gastric cancer (hazard ratio: 2.747, p=0.046).Conclusions: CEA expression in the peritoneal wash was significantly associated with peritoneal recurrence and was the most important prognostic factor for gastric cancer recurrence after curative resection.