Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) test is a medical test of blood drawing test, which is mainly used for the important clinical test of diagnosing cancer. What exactly does carcinoembryonic antigen mean? What is the significance of carcinoembryonic antigen detection?

　　carcinoembryonic antigen is an acidic high molecular glycoprotein. It was initially found in colon cancer and fetal intestinal tissue, and later in the blood of patients with gastric or pancreatic cancer, there were many CEAs, and rediscovered breast cancer, lung cancer, and other malignant tumors were present in the blood and increased in index. Because carcinoembryonic antigen is now a broad-spectrum tumor marker, it has important significance in the diagnosis, detection and prognosis of malignant tumors.

　　 1. Carcinoembryonic antigen is a widely existing carcinoembryonic tumor-related substance. In the tumor state, due to the disappearance of cell polarity, the carcinoembryonic antigen secreted by the human gastrointestinal tract, respiratory system, and urinary system will flow back into the blood, which will cause the abnormal increase of the level of carcinoembryonic antigen. 2. Clinically, carcinoembryonic antigen is mainly used to assist diagnosis of gastrointestinal tumors. Serum CEA levels in patients with colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, lung cancer or cholangiocarcinoma increased significantly; liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, renal cell carcinoma, breast cancer, esophageal cancer, ovarian cancer, osteosarcoma cancer, medullary thyroid cancer, bladder cancer and Hodgkin Disease, etc., CEA will also increase. 3. Carcinoembryonic antigen can also be used for the auxiliary diagnosis of malignant tumors and the monitoring of tumor development. Efficacy judgment and prognosis estimation. But the specificity is not strong, and it is not sensitive to the early diagnosis of tumors.

　　As the malignancy of the tumor increases, the level of CEA will also increase, and the positive rate will also increase.

After tumor metastasis, both CEA level and positive rate can increase. When patients with lung cancer have liver metastasis, they can get positive evidence from the CEA test results; 50％-90％ metastatic breast cancer has elevated CEA; colon cancer metastasis CEA positive rate is as high as 88％- 97％.