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Persistent elevation of the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) tumor marker in colorectal cancer following surgery carries a poor prognosis and portends either disease persistence or recurrence. However, the prognostic significance of elevated CEA prior to surgery is less clear.
To address this issue, investigators conducted a single-institution retrospective cohort study of 1027 patients who underwent curative resection for stage I to III colon cancer from 2007 through 2014. Of these, 51% had right-sided tumors, 49% had left-sided tumors, and a similar distribution had stage I (27%), stage II (37%), or stage III disease (35%). Most patients (78%) had a normal preoperative CEA, 16% had postoperative normalization of CEA, and 6% had persistent po…