Correlation between CA-15-3 and Bone Scan findings in patients with Carcinoma Breast

Objectives: Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor of females; the incidence increases with age. Bone is the most common site to which breast cancer metastasizes. Between 30% to 85% of patients with metastatic breast cancer develop bone metastases during the course of the disease. Carbohydrate antigen (CA) 15-3 is a circulating human breast cancer associated antigen used as a tumor marker in the screening of breast cancer patients for metastasis. The objective of this study was to compare the levels of CA 15-3 and bone scan findings in patients with breast cancer. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional analytical study was carried out at Rajshahi medical college hospital, Rajshahi, from January 2018 to December 2019. A total of 90 diagnosed breast cancer patients were enrolled in this study. Among them 45 patient was with normal CA 15-3 level and 45 patient was with elevated CA 15-3 level. All of them underwent bone scan. The tumor maker CA 15-3 was compared with bone scan findings. Results: Mean age of the patients was 46.62 ± 8.67 years (range 33 to 67 years). Among 45 patients with normal CA 15-3 level, bone scan was negative for metastasis in 39 (86.66%) patients with CA 15-3 level 14.96 ± 9.72U/ml and positive for metastasis in 6 (13.33%) patient with CA 15-3 level 23.3 ± 2.96U/ml. Out of 45 patients with elevated CA 15-3 level 11 (24.44%) had negative bone scan with CA 15-3 level 92.5 ± 19.89 U/ml whereas 34 (75.55%) patient had positive bone scan findings with CA 15-3 level 413.83 ± 362.83U/ml. In current study, Pearson’s correlation coefficient test showed positive relation, for elevated CA 15-3 level and Bone scan findings there was (r = 0.853, p = 0.00001) and for normal CA15-3 level and bone scan finding (r = 0.449, p = 0. 0019). Conclusion: The result of this study showed positive relationship between the bone scan findings and CA 15-3 level of breast carcinoma patients.