title: Determination of a normal level of serum CA125 in postmenopausal women as a tool for preoperative evaluation and postoperative surveillance of endometrial carcinoma.
abstract: In an attempt to determine a normal level of CA125 in postmenopausal women, CA125 levels of normal postmenopausal women (n = 36, 58.2 +/- 8.1 years) and postmenopausal women undergoing hormone replacement therapy (HRT) (n = 111, 56.8 +/- 6.1 years) were studied. A mean CA125 concentration of 10.0 +/- 3.8 U/ml was found in postmenopausal women without HRT and was significantly lower than that of postmenopausal women undergoing HRT (12.8 +/- 3.8 U/ml), indicating that the cutoff level of CA125 in postmenopausal women or women without reproductive organs should be estimated at a level lower than that conventionally accepted. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for a preoperative evaluation of myometrial invasion was analyzed in postmenopausal women with endometrial cancer (n = 110). A novel cutoff level of 20 U/ml of CA125 could detect myometrial invasion to more than one-half of the myometrium with sensitivity of 69.0%, specificity of 74.1%, positive predictive value of 58.8%, and negative predictive value of 81.6%. In addition, the distribution of CA125 levels was analyzed in patients who had undergone an operation for endometrial cancer more than 2 years earlier and as yet had no clinical evidence of recurrence of the disease. Ninety-six point two percent of 619 measurement values were lower than 20 U/ml. These results suggest that the novel CA125 level of 20 U/ml is clinically useful for preoperative evaluation and postoperative surveillance of endometrial carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Gunma University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kurihara
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mizunuma
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Obara
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Andoh
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ibuki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishimura
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D018394:CA-125 Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000502:physiology*; D011379:Prognosis; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D018394:CA-125 Antigen