Emerging role of tumor markers and biochemistry in the preoperative invasive assessment of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm of the pancreas

• Elevated serum CA19-9 and CEA levels are independent predictors of invasive carcinoma derived from IPMN.
• Elevated serum CA24-2 and hsCRP levels are significantly associated with the risk of invasiveness.
• CA19-9, CA242, CEA and hsCRP represent a group of readily accessible markers that can predict the invasiveness of IPMN.

BackgroundWe explored the significance of laboratory examinations in predicting invasive carcinoma derived from intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN).MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed preoperative laboratory examination data and postoperative pathological data for 87 patients with IPMN who underwent surgical resection at Peking Union Medical College Hospital from February 2008 to March 2015.ResultsHistological review of 87 patients with surgical resection revealed 4 cases of mild-grade dysplasia (4.6%), 34 cases of intermediate dysplasia (39.1%), 16 cases of high-grade dysplasia (18.4%) and 33 cases of invasive carcinoma (37.9%). The first 3 grades were considered noninvasive. In univariate analyses, increased serum concentrations of CA19-9 (p < 0.001), CA24-2 (p < 0.001), CEA (p < 0.001) and hsCRP (p = 0.027) were significantly associated with invasive carcinoma. Multivariate analysis showed that increased serum concentrations of CA19-9 (p = 0.009) and CEA (p = 0.042) were significant independent predictors of invasiveness. The combination of CA19-9, CA 24-2 and CEA improved the accuracy of prediction, and the sensitivity and specificity were 71.0% and 87.7% respectively.ConclusionsThe development of diagnostic laboratory tests has important implications for pre-operative IPMN evaluation. Increased serum CA19-9 and CEA concentrations are independent predictors of invasive carcinoma derived from IPMN, and increased serum CA24-2 and hsCRP concentrations are significantly associated with the risk of invasiveness. Combined detection of CA19-9 + CA24-2 + CEA proved to be the most accurate in predicting the invasiveness of IPMN.