Comparison of 5-year Survival Rate of Normal and Abnormal Preoperative Serum CA 125 Levels in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer: A Matched Study

Ree, Yoo Seock; Park, Jin Sil; Kim, Young Jae; Kim, Kyoung Tai; Cho, Sam Hyun; Hwang, Youn Yeung; Moon, Hyung

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate clinical significance of preoperative CA 125 levels in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer by comparing the 5 year disease-free survival rates of normal preoperative CA 125 levels (<35 U/ml) and abnormal preoperative serum CA 125 levels (> or =35 U/ml). MATERIALS & METHODS: Between January 1985 and January 1998, one hundred four patients with epithelial ovarian cancer were evaluated, who had been managed at Hanyang University Medical Center. Total 51 patients who had normal preoperative CA 125 levels (<35 U/ml) were matched and compared with 68 controls who had abnormal preoperative serum CA 125 levels (> or =35 U/ml). The two groups were first matched by diagnostic group and subsequently for the closest possible match with other successive variables, including age, histologic types, grade, presence of ascites and optimal cytoreduction. The associations between preoperative CA 125 levels and survival rate were assessed with the Fisher exact chi-square (x2) test and student T-test (p<0.05).
RESULTS
The 5 year disease-free survival rate was found to be significantly related with preoperative serum CA 125 level {normal vs. abnormal, 43/51 (84.3%) versus 44/68 (64.7%), p=0.021}. Improvement of 5 year disease-free survival in normal preoperative serum CA 125 group was exaggerated in patients with early stage {40/43 (93.0%) versus 37/52 (71.2%), p=0.015}, while that of patients with other stage was not.
CONCLUSION
Our data suggests that in epithelial ovarian cancer, preoperative CA 125 levels had significant effect on survival of patients especially in early stage disease.