tumor markers in patients undergoing hemodialysis and kidney transplantation

objective: to evaluate the effect of dialysis and kidney transplantation on serum levels of several tumor markers such as psa, afp, ca125, ca19- 9, ca15-3, cea and to compare with normal age matched controls. methods: between september of 2000 and july of 2001, the following tumor markers: psa, afp, ca125, ca19-9, ca15-3 and cea were measured by elisa method in 29 hemodialyzed patients (group a), in 30 successfully transplanted patients (group b) and in 30 normal volunteers who did not present any clinical symptoms or signs of neoplasia. results: the serum level of cea was above the cutoff limit in 6.7% of hemodialyzed patients (group a) but was in the normal range in transplanted and control groups. the level of cea were significantly higher in hemodialyzed patients in comparison to other groups (p