title: Elevated serum CA-125 levels in patients with nephrotic syndrome-induced ascites.
abstract: CA-125 is a sensitive, but not a specific, tumour marker especially used in the diagnosis and follow-up of ovarian cancer. Because of the elevated levels of CA-125 encountered during the etiological investigation of nephrotic syndrome (NS) a clinical study was designed to investigate the probable relationship between elevated CA-125 levels in patients with NS, with and without ascites. Twenty-four patients with NS due to non-tumoural pathologies, aged 24 to 56 (15 females and 9 males), were investigated. We detected elevated levels of serum CA-125 (275.92 +/- 154.71 U/mL) in 14 (70%) NS patients with ascites (p < 0.05). In the other 10 NS patients without ascites (Group 2) and in the control group, consisting of 52 age and sex-matched healthy volunteers, the serum CA-125 levels were found to be 13.60 +/- 5.12 U/mL and 8.50 +/- 5.02 U/mL, respectively (p > 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the control group and the patients without serosal fluids (p > 0.05). We concluded that serum CA-125 levels were elevated in NS patients with ultrasonographically detected ascites in the absence of an ovarian tumour or other diseases known to increase the levels of CA-125.
authors.affiliation: Inonu University, School of Medicine, Turgut Ozal Medical Center, Department of Internal Medicine, Malatya, Turkey.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sevinc
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buyukberber
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sari
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Turk
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ates
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001201:Ascites / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D018394:CA-125 Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009404:Nephrotic Syndrome / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D012016:Reference Values; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D018394:CA-125 Antigen