Table 2.

Relation between serum CEA levels before surgery and at recurrence/after surgery

Before surgery	At recurrence
	<5 ng/mL	≥5 ng/mL	p	<10 ng/mL	≥10 ng/mL	p
Relation between serum CEA levels before surgery and those at recurrence in 106 patients with recurrence
<5 ng/mL (n = 34)	19 (55.9%)	15 (44.1%)	<0.001	25 (73.5%)	9 (26.5%)	<0.001
≤5 ng/mL (n = 72)	18 (25.0%)	54 (75.0%)		31 (43.1%)	41 (56.9%)

Before surgery	After surgery
	<5 ng/mL	≥5 ng/mL	p	<10 ng/mL	≥10 ng/mL	p
Relation between serum CEA levels before surgery and those after surgery in 677 patients without recurrence
<5 ng/mL (n = 352)	343 (97.4%)	9 (2.6%)	<0.001	352 (100%)	0 (0%)	<0.001
≥5 ng/mL (n = 325)	201 (61.8%)	124 (38.2%)		303 (93.2%)	22 (6.8%)