The role of bronchial wash carcino-embryonic antigen assay in the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract EN

The bronchogenic cancer is one of the most common cancers in human kind & it represents a diagnostic challenge because of the most available tests are either yielding in the late stages or it is some of invasive nature ,so the need for diagnostic test in the early stages is mandatory, aim of the study is to assess the significance of bronchial carcino-embryonic antigen ( CEA) as a tumour marker for aiding the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and to see if there is any difference between the serum & bronchial CEA and between tumour and non-tumour sides Thirty patients were involved in this study ,divided into 3 groups according to their diagnosis as cancer ,airway disease & Tuberculosis groups, assessment of their socio-demographic features ,clinical features chest X ray ,computerized tomography (CT) scan , fibro-optic bronchoscopy were done & the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level were tested in the samples taken from serum, tumour& non-tumoursides.

There was a statistically significant difference in the level of the carcino-embryonic antigen in the bronchial wash of cancer patients group comparing to the serum of the same group & to the bronchial wash level in the other groups in favor of the cancer group patients, but no difference between the tumour& non tumour sides in the cancer group patients.

The carcino-embryonic antigen assay in the bronchial wash may be helpful in the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer& may be take into consideration in the future work up