title: What is a normal CA125 level?
abstract: CA125 is a coelomic epithelial antigen which is widely used to monitor residual disease in patients undergoing chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. Interpretation of serum CA125 levels has been based on a normal value of 35 U/ml which was derived by screening a young, general population of blood donors which included women with intact reproductive systems. This study addresses the issue of what constitutes a normal serum CA125 level following successful surgical therapy for gynecologic malignancy. Three hundred ninety-three CA125 values were measured in 145 patients after an elapsed time of at least 1 year following completion of surgical therapy for early-stage endometrial or cervical adenocarcinoma. All patients were without evidence of recurrent disease. The mean duration of followup was 4.3 years with a median of 3.7 years. Sixty-seven percent of the CA125 values were less than 10 U/ml; 95% were less than or equal to 20 U/ml. The median value for this patient population was 7.5 U/ml with a mode of 7.1 U/ml. There was no correlation between patient age and CA125 levels. These data suggest that the normal value for CA125 used for patient follow-up after treatment for gynecologic adenocarcinoma needs to be redefined. Our data support an upper limit of normal of 20 U/ml and encourage further study on the clinical impact of this new definition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City 52242.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Alagoz
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Buller
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berman
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Manetta
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: DiSaia
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000097:blood / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015295:Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate / Q000097:blood*; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005836:Genitalia, Female / Q000502:physiology / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000601:surgery
chemical_list: D015295:Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate