Breast cancer recurrence: role of serum tumor markers CEA and CA 15-3

Breast cancer is a heterogeneous, most frequent disease in women. All patients with breast cancer may develop progression or recurrence of the disease, and thus they need an effective lifelong follow-up. Breast cancer recurrence is a significant problem for clinicians. Even patients with early stage of the disease (stage I–II) have a recurrence rate of 30%, and local recurrences after conserving therapy have been reported from 6% to 12% at 5 and 10 years, respectively. In spite of advances in the diagnosis and therapy achieved over the past decade, a share of patients with breast cancer still develop relapse and metastases, from which they will ultimately die. An early detection and treatment of recurrence may improve the quality of life of patients who have undergone curative surgery and adjunctive therapy, although it does not seem to have a significant impact on long-term survival. In patients with breast cancer, the axillary node status still remains the main prognostic factor, especially in those with early-stage disease, but different factors, enclosing tumor markers serum levels, are available and potentially useful.