title: Clinical value of a single serum CA-125 level in women with symptoms of imminent abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the clinical value of a single serum CA-125 level in women presenting with symptoms of imminent abortion from 5 to 12 weeks' gestation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred women with symptoms of imminent abortion from 5 to 12 weeks' gestation were allocated to 3 subgroups: group I (n = 50), abdominal pain only; group II (n = 80), abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding of less than 3 days' duration; and group III (n = 70), abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding of > or = 3 days' duration. The control group (n = 55) was women undergoing a normal pregnancy of comparable gestational age. In all patients, CA-125 and beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (beta-hCG) levels were determined with commercially available enzymatic immunoassay tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A significant increase in serum CA-125 levels was observed in patients with vaginal bleeding (groups II and III) in comparison with the control group. In contrast to CA-125, serum beta-hCG levels were significantly lower in patients who went on to miscarry. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that all women with symptoms of imminent abortion who have a CA-125 level of > or = 43.1 U/mL should be considered as having a greater risk of miscarriage. Patients with bleeding of > or = 3 days should have a threshold value of 66.5 U/mL applied as a risk determinant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A single serum CA-125 level determination is valuable in women with imminent abortion presenting with abdominal pain, vaginal bleeding or both.
authors.affiliation: Department of Perinatology and Gynecology, Silesian Medical Academy, Plac Traugutta 6, 41-800 Zabrze, Poland. papifi@hot.pl
authors.forename: Patrycja
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fiegler
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Katz
authors.forename: Kazimierz
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaminski
authors.forename: Grzegorz
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rudol
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000097:blood*; D000033:Abortion, Threatened / Q000097:blood*; D000328:Adult; D018394:CA-125 Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D018997:Chorionic Gonadotropin, beta Subunit, Human / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014592:Uterine Hemorrhage / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D018394:CA-125 Antigen; D018997:Chorionic Gonadotropin, beta Subunit, Human