The assays of tumor marker CEA for differential diagnosis of pleural effusion

Objective To study the clinical significance of tumor marker CEA in the differential diagnosis of pleural effusion.Methods 88 serum and hydrothorax samples were collected from 88 in-patients with pleural effusion.Among them,30 patients were suffered with malignant pleural effusion and 58 patients with benign pleural effusion.The concentration of CEA was determined by immunoradiometric assay.Results The positive rate of serum and hydrothorax CEA in malignant group were significantly higher than that in benign pleural effusion(P0.01).Conclusion Tumor marker CEA has high clinical values in the differential diagnosis of pleural effusion.