ASSAY OF CEA FOR DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS OF PLEURAL EFFUSION

Objective To explore the clinical significance of assay of tumor markers CEA in differentiating benign and malignant pleural effusion. Methods Direct radioimmunoassay method was used respectively to detect CEA of pleural effusion and serum in 58 cases of malignant pleural effusion and 57 cases of benign pleural effusion, and pleural effusion/serum values were analyzed respectively. Results CEA in pleural effusion and serum in malignant group were higher than those in benign group, and the ratios of CEA of pleural effusion to those of serum was higher too(p0.01)。In malignant group CEA in pleural effusion were higher than those in serum(p0.01).The sensitivity of assay CEA in pleural effusion in diagnosing malignant plural effusion was 91.4%,with the specificity being 68.4% and the veracity being 80.0%. Once serological CEA and pleural effusion/serum value of CEA were used, the sensitivity, specificity and veracity were 75.9%,94.7%,87.0%.Conclusion Assay of CEA both in pleural effusion and serum plus pleural effusion/serum value could have significant clinical value for differentiating benign and malignant pleural effusion.