BACKGROUND In the 'Arimidex', Tamoxifen Alone or in Combination (ATAC) trial, the aromatase inhibitor (AI) anastrozole had a significantly better efficacy and safety profile than tamoxifen as initial adjuvant therapy for hormone receptor-positive (HR+) early breast cancer (EBC) in postmenopausal patients. To compare the combined long-term clinical and economic benefits, we carried out a cost-ef...

Decision makers are frequently faced with the question of how realistic are cost-effectiveness models. Overall survival (OS) is a desired clinical trial and health technology assessment endpoint but frequently unrealistic or elusive at the point of new drugs financing decision. We aim to compare the overall survival from lenalidomide treatment in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (rrMM) pati...

background: the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (ptb) is complicated and time-consuming currently. there was association of ptb with serum tumor markers. in this study we aimed to evaluate the predictive role of serum ca125, ca199 and cea as diagnostic tools for ptb. methods: this study was designed as a case-control study with 565 subjects who visited the yijishan hospital from jun to dec ...

PURPOSE Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is still a widely used test for monitoring breast cancer, although recent reports discourage its routine use because of low sensitivity. This is a prospective study evaluating the efficacy of CEA and CA 15.3 in monitoring breast cancer. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Serum CEA and CA 15.3 were measured in 2191 patients with either benign (n = 738) or malignant (n =...

Objectives This three-year, international, multicentre, longitudinal, observational, cost-effectiveness study named RaDiCEA (RareDisease &Cost-EffectivenessAnalysis) will assess the economic evaluation (cost of illness COI and costeffectiveness analysis CEA) of innovative therapies (i.e., anti IL-1 agents), quality of life (QoL) and effects of the prevention of otherwise irreversible central ne...

Background: The level of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in the diagnosis of early gastric cancer (EGC) seems obscure. This study is aimed to assess whether a high level of CEA is associated with the inferior prognosis for EGC. Methods: About 203 EGC patients, who received endoscopic mucosal resection or submucosal dissection or radical gastrectomy, were reviewed retrospectively. All the EGC cas...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Despite the absence of definitive data from randomized clinical trials on the comparative effectiveness of carotid artery stenting (CAS) versus carotid endarterectomy (CEA) for asymptomatic carotid stenosis, the use of CAS has been expanding and seems to be displacing the use of CEA in some parts of the United States. METHODS We used comprehensive hospital discharge dat...

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) such as vandetanib have shown clinical effectiveness in advanced medullary thyroid cancer (MTC). During TKI treatment, fluctuations in the tumor markers carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and calcitonin (CTN) are frequently observed. Their role for treatment monitoring and the decision-making process has not been fully elucidated yet.Twenty-one patients (male, 16, ...

BACKGROUND Carotid endarterectomy (CEA) is a beneficial procedure for selected patients with an internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis. Surgical risk of CEA varies from between 2 and 15%. The aim of the study is to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of sonolysis (continual transcranial Doppler monitoring, TCD) using a 2-MHz diagnostic probe with maximal diagnostic energy on the reduction ...

OBJECTIVES The study aimed to evaluate the prognostic significance of carcinoembryonic antigen levels in pleural lavage fluid (p-CEA) in patients with completely resected non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS We examined 72 patients who underwent curative surgical resections. Pleural lavage fluid was collected at thoracotomy before lung resection. Pleural lavage cytology and p-CEA were ...