Abstract: Objective：To study the micrometastasis in the bone marrow of patients with esophageal carcinomas and its clinical implication. Methods：CEA mRNA expression in bone marrow of rib was detected in 43 patients with esophageal carcinoma and 17 patients with esophageal benign lesions as controls by RTPCR. Results：The positive CEA mRNA expression was 34.9 %(15/43) in bone marrow of patients with esophageal carcinoma and not found in patients with benign lesions (P＜0.05). No correlation was observed between the expression and sex,age, histological type,cancer cell differentiation, but close correlation between the expression and depth of invasion,lymph node metastasis(P＜0.05）. Conclusion：RTPCR amplification of CEA mRNA is a sensitive and specific method for detection of bone marrow of rib segments in patients with esophageal carcinoma. The detection of CEAmRNA in bone marrow is helpful in comprehensive judging the extent and the prognosis, leading to an early diagnosis and treatment for patients with subclinical metastasis in bone marrow.

Key words: Esophageal neoplasmas, Carcinoembryonic antigen, Bone marrow examination, Micrometastases, Reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction