Clinical significance of the tumor markers CYFRA 21-1 and neuron-specific enolase in lung cancer

The diagnostic validity of CYFRA 21-1 and neuron-specific enolase is assessed in patients with lung cancer. Serum contents of CYFRA 21-1 and neuron-specific enolase are increased, respectively, in 74 and 67% of patients with various histological variants of lung cancer. Diagnostic sensitivity of CYFRA was 77.2% in lung cancer other than the small cell variant and 76% in small cell lung cancer. A correlation between the CYFRA content and the tumor size in patients with squamous and other than small cell lung cancer is demonstrated. In patients with spread small cell cancer, serum enolase content tends to increase compared with that in patients with localized small cell cancer. Both CYFRA and enolase are sensitive lung tumor markers in the diagnostics and evaluation of the extent of tumor spread.