This two-page table compares the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) updated (2006) recommendations with its earlier (2000) recommendations for the use of tumor markers in patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancer.

This table compares the 2000 recommendations to the 2006 recommendations in these areas:

• Postoperative testing and monitoring of response to therapy using carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) as a marker for colorectal cancer
• Cancer management using lipid-associated sialic acid (LASA) as a marker for colorectal cancer
• Management/prognosis using DNA ploidy or flow cytometric proliferation analysis as a marker for colon cancer

The table also provides new recommendations for these tumor markers not included in the 2000 guidelines:

• Screening, prognosis, and predicting and monitoring response to therapy using thymidine synthase (TS), dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD), and thymidine phosphorylase (TP) as markers for colorectal cancer
• Prognosis/prediction using microsatellite instability (MSI) as a marker for colorectal cancer
• Prognosis/prediction using 18q-LOH/DCC as markers for colorectal cancer
• Screening, operability, evidence of recurrence, and monitoring response to therapy using CA 19-9 as a marker for pancreatic cancer