CEA in breast ductal secretions as a promising biomarker for the diagnosis of breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: Other studies have shown that levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in breast ductal secretions (BDS) differ significantly between breast cancer (BC) patients and healthy individuals, providing direct evidence for CEA in BDS as a promising biomarker for BC. This meta-analysis was designed to assess the potential diagnostic value of CEA in BDS. METHODS: Relevant articles were retrieved from Embase, Pubmed, and the Cochrane Library. Sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) of CEA in BDS for diagnosing BC were pooled using random effects models. SROC and the area under the curve (AUC) were used to estimate overall diagnostic performance. RESULTS: This meta-analysis comprised five studies with a total of 340 BC patients and 448 healthy controls. For CEA in BDS, the pooled sensitivity, specificity, and DOR to diagnose BC were 58 % [95 % confidence interval (CI): 52-63 %], 87 % (95 % CI: 84-90 %), and 7.07 (95 % CI: 3.10-16.12), respectively. Moreover, the AUC of CEA in the diagnosis of BC was 0.8570. CONCLUSIONS: CEA in BDS is a promising biomarker in the diagnosis of BC and should be evaluated as a standard screening tool upon verification of our results in a larger study population.