Utility of serum CA19-9 in diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma: In comparison with CEA

Table 1 Patients’ characteristics in three groups (mean ± SD)

Characteristics	Cholangiocarcinoma	Benign biliary diseases	Healthy individuals
N	35	92	15
Age (yr)	60.37 ± 11.2	49.78 ± 10.6	27.6 ± 4.7
Sex (M/F)	19/16	39/53	15/0
Total bilirubin (umol/L)	47.4 ± 2.1a	8.3 ± 0.7	8.6 ± 0.9
AST (U/L)	79 ± 21.2a	26 ± 3.5	21 ± 4.6
ALP (U/L)	193 ± 41.8a	114 ± 50.6	90 ± 18.3
CA19-9 (KU/L)	290.31 ± 5.34bc	13.38 ± 2.59	12.78 ± 3.69
CEA (μg/L)	36.46 ± 18.03a	13.84 ± 3.85	11.48 ± 3.37

^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.001 vs benign biliary diseases or healthy individuals. ^cP < 0.05 vs serum CEA. AST = aspartate aminotranferase, ALP = alkaline phosphatase, CA19-9 = carbohydrate antigen 19-9, CEA = carcinoembryonic antigen.