Relationship between preoperative serum CEA and CA 15-3 and risk of breast cancer recurrence in postmenopausal elderly women

preoperative CEA and CA 15-3 serum levels can predict which patients with breast cancer (BC) are likely to have a shorter disease free survival interval following surgery. Methods: We evaluated the prognostic value of these parameters in a series of 363 consecutive postmenopausal women (median age 63 years) with pT1-2, N0-1 BC for progression-free survival. There were 203 (55.9%) patients aged 47-64 (Group A), and 160 (44.1%) >64 years (Group B). The size of the tumor (19.9±13.6 vs. 22.7±14.0 mm, p=0.06) did not differ between Groups, while the mean baseline serum CEA (2.7±8.5 vs. 4.8±11.0 ng/mL, p=0.04), and CA 15-3 (19.0±14.3 vs. 24.9±27.3 U/L, p=0.01) levels were higher in Group B. Results: At long-term follow-up (3-5 years) 301 patients (82.9%) were disease-free (subgroup 1), and 62 (17.1%) patients (Group A = 41, 20.2%; Group B=20, 12.5%) developed local recurrence or distant metastases (subgroup 2). Overall, the mean serum marker levels did not differ (p=NS) between subgroups. In Group A, the mean CA 15-3 levels were significantly (p<0.01) higher between subgroups, while in disease-free Group B patients the preoperative serum tumor levels were higher than in those with relapse. Conclusions: In patients with BC high baseline serum CA 15-3 levels is usually considered a predictive factor for relapse. However, our findings indicate that a relationship between baseline serum marker levels and progression-free survival in elderly patients with BC does not exist.