Table 2
Diagnostic value of cytology, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cholesterol, and their combined use in distinguishing between 57 ascites from patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis and 73 cases without malignant involvement of the peritoneum
| Predictive value (n/N) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assays | Definition of abnormality | Specificity (n/N) | Sensitivity (n/N) | Positive | Negative |
| *Malignant diagnoses: “positives” only; inconclusive cytology is incorporated with “negatives”. | |||||
| †Cut off point for CEA, 5 ng/ml. | |||||
| ‡Cut off point for cholesterol, 1.21 mmol/litre. | |||||
| Cytology alone | Malignant cytology* | 100% (73/73) | 77% (44/57) | 100% (44/44) | 85% (73/86) |
| CEA alone | Raised CEA† | 97% (71/73) | 51% (29/57) | 94% (29/31) | 72% (71/99) |
| Cholesterol alone | Raised cholesterol‡ | 96% (70/73) | 93% (53/57) | 95% (53/56) | 95% (70/74) |
| Combined CEA + cholesterol | High concentrations of CEA† and cholesterol‡ | 100% (73/73) | 49% (28/57) | 100% (28/28) | 72% (73/102) |
| Cytology and combined CEA + cholesterol | Malignant cytology* and/or high concentration of CEA† and cholesterol‡ | 100% (73/73) | 88% (50/57) | 100% (50/50) | 91% (73/80) |
