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Vol.58 No.1 contents | Japanese/English |
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- Case Report -
A Case of Seasonal Fluctuation of Carcinoembryonic Antigen During the Postoperative Follow-up of Lung Cancer
Kenta Nakahashi1, Hiroyuki Oizumi1, Hirohisa Kato1, Jun Suzuki1, Akira Hamada1, Hikaru Watarai11Second Department of Surgery, Yamagata University, Japan
Background. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is an important tumor marker for the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of many malignant tumors. We herein report our experience with a patient who showed an elevated CEA level during the winter despite there being no evidence of recurrence of her non-small cell lung cancer during a postoperative follow-up session. Case. The patient was a 64-year-old female. We performed thoracoscopic middle-lobe resection and mediastinal lymph node dissection for the treatment of adenocarcinoma in the right middle lobe. The postoperative diagnosis revealed the following: pT2a(pl2)N0M0-IB UICC 7th. We therefore initiated the treatment with tegafur/uracil and administered prophylactic pleural thermochemical therapy. During the follow-up period, we noticed an elevation in the CEA level during the winter of the same year, but there was no tumor recurrence upon investigation. We then noticed a decrease in the CEA level over the summer, with an increase noted again the following winter, and examination continued to show no evidence of recurrence. The patient has survived without recurrence for eight years since undergoing lung resection. Conclusion. It is important to take the presentation of such rare cases into consideration.
key words: Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), Seasonal fluctuation, Follow-up
Received: November 17, 2017
Accepted: December 12, 2017
JJLC 58 (1): 46-49, 2018
