Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0024523 (malabsorption)
 7,319 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We undertook to test the recent suggestion that measurement of immunoreactive carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in pancreatic secretion may be useful in diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Using duodenal intubation and a perfusion method in 57 cases, we measured the rate of pancreatic CEA secretion into the duodenum under basal saline perfusion, alone and with continuous intravenous infusion of secretin (2 clinical units per kg per hr) and of cholecystokinin-pancreozymin (CCK, 15 Crick-Harper-Raper units per kg per hr); and we compared the CEA output with secretion of trypsin, lipase, and bicarbonate under the same conditions. Subsequent laparotomy revealed pancreatic carcinoma in 25 patients, pancreatitis in 7, other intraabdominal malignancies in 6, and benign nonpancreatic disorders in 19. CEA output rates did not differentiate all pancreatic-cancer patients from other patients in any test condition. However, pancreatic enzyme outputs were abnormal with almost 90% of cancers of the pancreatic head and with 75% of cancers of the pancreatic body and tail. For detection of pancreatic cancer, enzyme and bicarbonate outputs in response to CCK are more accurate than pancreatic CEA or bicarbonate outputs in response to secretin. Since CCK-stimulated enzyme outputs can be related accurately to malabsorption (not reported here), we prefer them to bicarbonate output for assessment of pancreatic function.
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PMID:Prospective evaluation of the pancreatic secretion of immunoreactive carcinoembryonic antigen, enzyme, and bicarbonate in patients suspected of having pancreatic cancer. 89 42

A patient with a transient elevation of the serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) associated with a benign disease was reported. The elevation of CEA was noted in the patient with low T3, T4 syndrome associated with malnutrition due to malabsorption syndrome induced by post-gastrectomy and chronic pancreatitis. Mild liver dysfunction and diabetes mellitus were also noted. The CEA level decreased as T3, T4 level and malnutrition were improved by administration of a massive digestive enzyme preparation. This inverse correlation between the serum CEA and serum T3, T4 levels suggested that high levels of the serum CEA can be found in the patient with malnutrition.
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PMID:A case of transient elevation of the serum carcinoembryonic antigen and associated with severe malnutrition and low T3, T4 syndrome. 188 26

In this study, we determined the sensitivity and specificity of the new serum assay CA19-9 in detecting adenocarcinoma of the pancreas and compared the results with those of the serum assay to carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). Thirty-seven patients with biopsy-proven adenocarcinoma (14 patients with resectable disease and 23 patients with unresectable disease) were compared with 157 controls (48 patients with benign pancreatic disease, 34 patients with nonpancreatic sources of abdominal pain, 58 patients with benign jaundice, 7 patients with nonpancreatic malabsorption, and 10 patients with renal failure on dialysis). It was determined that a cutoff of 75 U/ml enhanced the diagnostic efficiency (sensitivity + specificity) of CA19-9 over the manufacturer's recommended cutoff of 37 U/ml. The sensitivity of CA19-9 (greater than 75 U/ml) in detecting cancer was greater than that of CEA (greater than 5 ng/ml) (86.5% vs. 48.4%) (p less than 0.01, McNemar test). The sensitivity of CA19-9 was 78.6% in resectable and 91.3% in unresectable disease. The specificity of CA19-9 was also greater than CEA (92.5% vs. 87.3%), although this difference was not statistically significant. The higher the CA19-9 or CEA level, the greater the specificity of either assay; at CA19-9 levels greater than 600 U/ml and CEA levels greater than 20 ng/ml the specificity is approximately 99%. The combination of an elevated CA19-9 level (greater than 75 U/ml) and an elevated CEA level (greater than 5 ng/ml) also enhanced specificity to 99%. It is concluded that CA19-9 used alone is superior to CEA used alone in detecting cancer of the pancreas and that the combination of mild elevations of both assays improves their specificity. Although the CA19-9 marker can be elevated with other intraabdominal adenocarcinomas (e.g., gastric, biliary, or colonic), CA19-9, together with CEA, will be useful to the clinician in differentiating benign from malignant pancreatic processes and in alerting the clinician to the possible presence of an intraabdominal neoplasm in the proper clinical setting.
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PMID:Comparison of the sensitivity and specificity of the CA19-9 and carcinoembryonic antigen assays in detecting cancer of the pancreas. 241 28