title: Maternal serum CA 125 levels in first trimester abortion.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the source of maternal serum CA 125 during the first trimester of pregnancy.
  
  
  METHODS
  CA 125 was measured in stored samples from nonviable pregnancies of 8-13 weeks gestation. The study group comprised 19 women with vaginal bleeding and 13 non-bleeders. Only patients in whom chromosome analysis of the products of conception demonstrated a normal caryotype were included. CA 125 levels were expressed in multiples of the median (MoM) for normal pregnancies of the same gestational age.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Median MoM values of CA 125 were significantly higher in women with vaginal bleeding (1.81 MoM) as compared both to non-bleeders (0.82 MoM; p < 0.01-Mann-Whitney U-test) and to the normal pregnancies (1.01 MoM; p < 0.05). No significant difference was found between non-bleeding women and controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study indicates that in non-viable pregnancies with euploid fetuses an increase in maternal serum CA 125 levels was found only in presence of decidual disruption associated to vaginal bleeding. These findings are compatible with a prevalent decidual source of this antigen.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, University of Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Noci
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Biagiotti
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Periti
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Baronci
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Torricelli
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cefalà
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Branconi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Borri
mesh_terms: D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous / Q000276:immunology*; D018394:CA-125 Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D003656:Decidua / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D014592:Uterine Hemorrhage
chemical_list: D018394:CA-125 Antigen