Carcinoembryonic antigen in patients with untreated central nervous system tumors.

This study was designed to determine whether immunological examination of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels in blood serum and cerebrospinal fluid would be helpful in detecting central nervous system tumors. Forty patients with tumors of the central nervous system were compared with 108 control patients. The findings suggest that: 1) CEA determinations are not helpful as a screening test in detecting preclinical central nervous system tumors; 2) Serum CEA determinations may be useful in determining the presence of a malignant tumor in patients with a circumscribed uptake on brain scan or a nonspecific mass lesion at cerebral angiography; 3) Cerebrospinal fluid CEA determinations were of no value in detecting central nervous system tumors; 4) Further study on a larger population of malignant central nervous system tumors is warranted.