[Studies on the clinical evaluation of tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA) levels in the peripheral and draining venous blood of gastric cancer patients].
Correlation with TPA levels of peripheral (p) and draining (d) venous blood, and 11 histopathologic variables, postoperative recurrence and survival was examined in 40 patients with gastric cancer. Elevation of d-TPA levels was correlated with tumor location, size, macroscopic type, invasive layer of gastric wall, venous invasion, node and liver metastases and stage classification, though elevation of p-TPA levels was correlated only with liver metastasis. No significant difference of p-TPA levels was found between the patients with and without cancer recurrence. d-TPA levels (mean 1318U/l and positive rate greater than 726U/l of mean +/- 2SD in patients with benign diseases, 59%) of the former were significantly higher than those (518U/l and 15%) of the latter. Correlation between d-TPA levels and recurrent sites was not found. Most of the patients with hematogenous recurrence showed the elevated p-TPA levels, but none of the patients with local recurrence revealed the elevation. Survival in both patients with non-elevated p- and d-TPA levels was significantly better than in patients with the elevated levels. These results suggest d-TPA levels are more closely correlated with histopathologic variables and postoperative recurrent rates than p-TPA levels, preoperative determination of p- and d-TPA levels is useful for the estimation of the postoperative prognosis and patients with elevated p- and d-TPA levels should be clinically treated as patients with high recurrence and poor prognosis.