Efficacy of carcinogenic embryonic antigen in differential diagnosis of diseases of pancreas and liver--a comparative study in a tertiary care hospital of Western Nepal.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of our present study was to assess the efficacy of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) for differentiating and diagnosis of pancreatic and liver diseases in Pokhara valley. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A hospital based retrospective study was carried out using data retrieved from the register maintained in the Department of Biochemistry of the Manipal Teaching Hospital, Pokhara, Nepal between 1st January, 2011 and 31st October, 2011. Estimation of CEA was performed by ELISA reader for all cases. Approval for the study was obtained from the institutional research ethical committee. RESULTS: Of the 771 subjects, 208 (27%), 60(7.8%), 240(31.1%), 54(7.0%) , 75(9.7%), 59(7.7%), 75(9.7%) cases were of active chronic hepatitis , cryptogenic cirrhosis, alcoholic cirrhosis, primary biliary cirrhosis, hepatoma, acute or chronic pancreatitis, carcinoma of pancreas respectively. The majority of cases (104) of active chronic hepatitis had CEA levels <5 ng/ml(50%). CEA levels were found to be increased in cases of alcoholic cirrhosis with maximum number of cases (106) in range of 10 to 20 ng/ml (44%). There were no cases having more than 20 ng/ml of CEA in primary biliary cirrhosis and acute or chronic pancreatitis. In cases of pancreatic cancer, maximum number of cases (35) were having CEA >20 ng/ml(47%). CONCLUSION: High levels of CEA are associated with advanced stage of disease. CEA can thus provide an important improvement in the diagnosis by differentiating pancreatic cancer especially from chronic pancreatitis when there is a high suspicion of malignancy. Increased CEA levels may also signify progression from benign to malignant transformation in the liver.

Diagnostic significance of alpha fetoprotein in carcinomas of liver and biliary tract - a comparative study from the western region of Nepal.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the diagnostic significance of α-fetoprotein in carcinomas of liver and biliary tract with the overall goal of reducing morbidity and mortality in Pokhara valley. MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was a hospital based comparative study carried out in the Department of Biochemistry of Manipal Teaching Hospital, Pokhara, Nepal between 1st January 2009 and 31st December 2010. The variables collected were age, gender, serum alpha feto protein. Approval for the study was obtained from the institutional research ethical committee. Estimation of AFP was performed by ELISA reader for all cases. The standard procedure was followed as per manufacturer's instructions for ELISA. All these laboratory parameters were analyzed using Human reagent kits and with the help of ELISA and semi autoanalyser (Humalyser 3500, Germany). RESULTS: Out of 1200 patients, there were 348(29%) cases of HCC. Out of that, 285 cases were found to be AFP positive with significant elevation. Furthermore, diagnosed cases were of cholangiocarcinomas (96, 8%) and secondary carcinomas of liver (216, 18%). In both of these clinical conditions, there was insignificant elevation of AFP. Another commonly diagnosed condition was cirrhosis (480, 40%) and in 90 cases, AFP values were moderately raised from the upper limit of normal reference range. The last diagnosed cases were of either Hepatitis A/E(60, 5%) and did not show any rise in levels of AFP. CONCLUSION: Serological markers for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are imperative for early identification, as well as scrutinizing of tumour aggressiveness, treatment responsiveness, reappearance and endurance. It is consequently justifiable to carry out the test for serum AFP to detect and differentiate at early stage of liver cell carcinomas.