Elevated preoperative CEA levels (5-year OS: 89.5% vs. 95.6%, p = 0.005) (Figure 3A) and fewer harvested LNs (5-year OS: 89.9% vs. 95.3%, p < 0.001) (Figure 3B) in the rectal cancer group were significantly associated with worse OS. Here, CEACAM5 is linked to rectal cancer.