Investigation of the cause of elevated serum CA19-9 levels in patients with liver cirrhosis

Objective This study was to investigate the relation between serum CA19-9 levels and the biochemical parameters of liver function , and explore the cause of increasing serum CA19-9 levels in patients with liver cirrhosis. Methods The study group was consisted of 53 patients with liver cirrhosis , which included 46 patients of hepetitic B virus cirrhosis , 3 patients of hepetitic C virus cirrhosis , 3 patients of alcoholic cirrhosis and one patient of primary biliary cirrhosis. Forty normal adults were served as the control group. Their biochemical parameters of each function and serum CA19-9 level of every patient in both groups was examined at the same time. Results The serum CA19-9 level of the study group was higher than that of the control. The serum CA19-9 levels in patients with liver cirrhosis was positively correlated with alanine aminotransferase(ALT),γ-glutamyl(γ-GT), aspartate aminotranserase(AST),indirect bilirubin(IBIL)but not with albumin(ALB),alkaline phosphatase(ALP),total bilirubin(TBIL),direct bilirubin(DBIL), prealbumin(PAB), Child-Pugh's score. Conclusion Cholestasis is the main determinant of increasing serum CA 19-9 level in patients with liver cirrhosis on condition that the carcinoma does not exist.