The importance of tumor markers and markers of angiogenesis for colorectal cancer prognosis

Despite extensive progress in understanding of the molecular pattern of the tumor, growing possibilities of chemotherapy and surgical treatment, colorectal cancer remains the significant cause of death worldwide. Surgical treatment alone has already reached in oncologic radicality its limits, and therefore the surgeons turned to the molecular base of tumor growth in an effort to find markers that allow to operate patients at lower stages of the disease and thus improve the results and prognosis of the disease. And also to find markers, which, after currative operation will find a possible relapse in early stage to enable the surgeon to perform second curative intervention. Tumor markers are substances that often arise in connection with the changed metabolism transformed tumor cells, and therefore their levels increased in the presence of malignancy. Serum tumor markers are important parameters that may facilitate the prediction of the disease, its progression or regression (remission). Tumor markers are clinically used for screening, primary diagnosis, staging, prognosis, but particularly for predicting recurrence of disease, monitoring therapy. This work aims to summarize the current knowledge about the colorectal cancer markers, outline the possible development and present results of relationship..