Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 28, 2022; 28(4): 500-501
Published online Jan 28, 2022. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i4.500
Is CA19-9 effective in predicting chemotherapeutic response in patients with synchronous liver metastases with colorectal cancer?
Semra Demirli Atici, Erdinc Kamer
Semra Demirli Atici, Erdinc Kamer, Department of General Surgery, University of Health Sciences Tepecik Training and Research Hospital, İzmir 35180, Turkey
Author contributions: Demirli Atici S and Kamer E wrote the manuscript; Kamer E reviewed and supervised the manuscript preparation; Both authors read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author(s) declare having no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Semra Demirli Atici, MD, Surgeon, Department of General Surgery, University of Health Sciences Tepecik Training and Research Hospital, Güney Mahallesi, 1140/1 Sokak No:1 Yenişehir/Konak, İzmir 35180, Turkey. smrdemirli@hotmail.com
Received: October 22, 2021
Peer-review started: October 22, 2021
First decision: December 1, 2021
Revised: December 11, 2021
Accepted: January 13, 2022
Article in press: January 13, 2022
Published online: January 28, 2022
Processing time: 92 Days and 2 Hours
Abstract

Evaluation of response to chemotherapy in colorectal cancer patients with synchronous liver metastases is important in terms of treatment management. In this Letter to the Editor, several issues in the article are discussed. For the comparison of carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) values referenced in the study, the patient group was not matched for cancer stage. Therefore, it may be more appropriate to select and compare CA19-9 values in patients with same-stage cancer.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; Carbohydrate antigen 19-9; Liver metastasis of colorectal cancer; Synchronous liver metastasis; Chemotherapy; Metastatic colorectal cancer

Core Tip: It is important to evaluate synchronous liver metastases of colorectal cancer (CRC) and to determine the response to chemotherapy in patients. Based on findings from such, the optimal treatment method is selected for each patient. The scoring system described in the study, created through a combination of radiology and laboratory parameters, can guide treatment. However, we think that it would be more appropriate to discuss the results of this study in the context of other studies conducted with patients with stage IV CRC.