The Correlation of Serum Level of Tumor Marker CA125 and CA19-9 and Severity of Endometriosis

Kwack, Min Jung; Jin, Keon

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical usefulness of serum level of CA125 and CA19-9 to assess the severity of endometriosis.
METHODS
The study was conducted on 80 patients with histologically diagnosed endometriosis and 20 patients in control group. Preoperative serum CA125 and CA19-9 levels were measured by immunoradiometric assay and the severity of disease was staged according to the revised American Fertility Society (1985) classification system.
RESULTS
Both serum level of CA125 and CA19-9 in endometriosis patient (81.7+/-120.44 U/mL, 47.1+/-80.74 U/mL, Mean+/-SD) were higher than control group (10.8+/-6.48 U/mL, 11.7+/-8.82 U/mL, Mean+/-SD)(p=0.001, p=0.054). The serum CA125 level increased significantly according to stages (p=0.051), but serum CA19-9 level showed an increasing trend (p>0.05). With the cutoff value of CA125 with 35 U/mL and CA19-9 with 37 U/mL, overall positive rate for CA125, CA19-9, and CA125 combined with CA19-9 was 45.1%, 33.8%, and 52.5%. There was no difference between the positive rate with CA125 combined with CA19-9 (52.5%) and that with CA125 alone (45.1%)(p>0.05). With the cutoff value of CA125 with 15 U/mL and CA19-9 with 9 U/mL, overall positive rate for CA125, CA19-9, and CA125 combined with CA19-9 was 82.5%, 76.3%, and 92.5%, the positive rate with CA125 combined with CA19-9 (92.5%) was higher than that with CA125 alone (82.5%)(p=0.056).
CONCLUSION
Because the positive rate with combined serum CA125 and CA19-9 level is not higher than that with serum CA125 alone for the severity assessment of endometriosis, it is recommended to use serum CA125 level alone.