TABLE 1.

Patient and tumor characteristics.

Characteristic	All (N = 1401)	Normal preoperative CEA (N = 1188)	Normalized postoperative CEA (N = 139)	Elevated postoperative CEA (N = 74)
Gende, no. (%) of patients
Male	859 (61.3)	748 (63.0)	74 (53.2)	37 (50.0)
Female	542 (38.7)	440 (37.0)	65 (46.8)	37 (50.0)
Age, years
Median (IQR)	58 (52.0–64.0)	58 (52.3–64.0)	57 (51.0–64.0)	58 (51.8–63.0)
Mean (SD)	57.9 (8.6)	58.0 (8.5)	55.6 (9.4)	57.4 (7.8)
Smoking
Yes	793 (56.6)	694 (58.4)	69 (49.6)	30 (40.5)
No	608 (43.4)	494 (41.6)	70 (50.4)	44 (59.5)
Family History
Yes	230 (16.4)	205 (17.3)	13 (9.4)	12 (16.2)
No	1171 (83.6)	983 (82.7)	126 (90.6)	62 (83.8)
Pathology, no. (%) of patients
ADC	864 (61.7)	696 (58.6)	102 (73.4)	66 (89.2)
SCC	480 (34.3)	454 (38.2)	23 (16.5)	3 (4.1)
Others	57 (4.1)	38 (3.2)	14 (10.1)	5 (6.8)
T Stage, no. (%) of patients
T1	648 (46.3)	595 (50.1)	38 (27.3)	15 (20.3)
T2	561 (40.0)	438 (36.9)	79 (56.8)	44 (59.5)
T3	96 (6.9)	80 (6.7)	13 (9.4)	3 (4.1)
T4	96 (6.9)	75 (6.3)	9 (6.5)	12 (16.2)
N Stage, no. (%) of patients
N0	922 (65.8)	837 (70.5)	64 (46)	21 (28.4)
N1	182 (13)	149 (12.5)	24 (17.3)	9 (12.2)
N2	294 (21)	199 (16.8)	51 (36.7)	44 (59.5)
N3	3 (0.2)	3 (0.3)	0 (0)	0 (0)
AJCC 7th ed. stage, no. (%) of patients
IA1	66 (4.7)	66 (5.6)	0 (0)	0 (0)
IA2	235 (16.8)	224 (18.9)	9 (6.5)	2 (2.7)
IA3	190 (13.6)	178 (15.0)	8 (5.8)	4 (5.4)
IB	265 (18.9)	227 (19.1)	27 (19.4)	11 (14.9)
IIA	55 (3.9)	47 (4.0)	7 (5)	1 (1.4)
IIB	219 (15.6)	183 (15.3)	31 (22.3)	6 (8.1)
IIIA	310 (22.1)	221 (18.6)	49 (35.3)	40 (54.1)
IIIB	61 (4.4)	43 (3.6)	8 (5.8)	10 (13.5)
Preoperative CEA, ng/ml
Median (IQR)	2.7 (1.8–4.1)	2.4 (1.6–3.4)	8.6 (6.2–15.1)	26.9 (9.6–77.5)
Mean (SD)	7.2 (33.3)	2.5 (1.1)	15.6 (29.2)	67.9 (124.0)
Adjuvant chemotherapy, no. (%) of patients
Yes	560 (40.0)	402 (33.8)	109 (78.4)	49 (66.2)
No	802 (57.2)	755 (63.6)	25 (18)	22 (29.7)
Unknown	39 (2.8)	31 (2.6)	5 (3.6)	3 (4.1)