J Med Syst

Efficacy of ultrasonic mass survey for abdominal cancer.

Year 1998
Mihara S. Nagano K. Kuroda K. Yoshioka R. Sawatari M. Koba H. Tanaka S. Hirao S. Machihara M. Hondou K. Morimoto E. Koyama W.
Japanese Red Cross, Kumamoto Health Care Center, Japan.
From August 1983 through March 1995, 204,099 people received ultrasonic mass survey of the abdomen for the first time. Among these examinees, 631 (0.31%) malignant neoplasm cases, such as 201 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), 81 gallbladder (GB) cancer, 57 pancreatic cancer, and 169 renal cell carcinoma (RCC), were detected. Three hundred seventy six out of 590 cases (64%), excluding chronic leukemia cases and metastatic liver cancer cases, were surgically resected. The resection rate of HCC, GB cancer, pancreatic cancer, and RCC were 25%, 88%, 49%, and 99%, respectively. The cumulative survival rate of the 376 resected cases was 79.5% at 10 years. The cumulative survival rates of resected cases of HCC, GB cancer, pancreatic cancer and cumulative survival rates of resected cases of HCC, GB cancer, pancreatic cancer and RCC were 34% at ten years, 83% at 10 years, 49% at 7 years, and 99% at 10 years, respectively. Ultrasonic mass survey is dramatically useful for early detection of various kinds of abdominal cancers, especially RCC and GB cancer. From now on, many earlier abdominal cancers will be found by establishing and promoting ultrasonic mass survey systems.

Influence of smoking on serum carcinoembryonic antigen levels in subjects who underwent multiphasic health testing and services.

Year 1998
Fukuda I. Yamakado M. Kiyose H.
Center for Multiphasic Health Testing and Services, Mitsui Memorial Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
We quantified the effect of smoking on serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels in 1341 subjects who underwent the multiphasic health testing and services in our center. Four hundred and sixty seven of them were smokers and the rest were nonsmokers. In males subjects, serum CEA levels were significantly higher in smokers (3.11 +/- 1.8 ng/ml) than in nonsmokers (2.14 +/- 1.8 ng/ml) (mean +/- SD; p < 0.01). For females, however, the levels had no significant differences between smokers (2.11 +/- 0.91 ng/ml) and nonsmokers (1.87 +2- 1.3 ng/ml). The CEA-positive subjects were 44, of whom 32 were male custom heavy smokers, and only 2 of them had gastrointestinal cancer. We concluded that the serum CEA level was influenced by smoking especially in males and its clinical significance for detection of carcinoma was doubtful.