Preoperative serum CA-125 level as a predictor for the extent of cytoreduction in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer

Serum CA-125 level in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer

Abstract

Background. Ovarian cancer is the seventh most common cancer in women worldwide and the eighth most common cause of cancer death. Due to the lack of effective early detection strategies and the unspecific onset of symptoms, it is diagnosed at an advanced stage in 75% of cases. The cancer antigen (CA) 125 is used as a prognostic marker and its level is elevated in more than 85% of women with advanced stages of epithelial ovarian cancer. The standard treatment is primary debulking surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy, but the later approach is neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by interval debulking surgery. Several studies have been conducted to find out whether preoperative CA -125 serum levels influence treatment choice and outcome.

Conclusions. There is still no consensus on the cut-off CA-125 value or percentage reduction to predict the outcome of the surgical procedure in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer.

Key words: ovarian cancer, tumor marker, Ca-125, primary debulking surgery, neoadjuvant chemotherapy