title: Thrombopoietin: a novel candidate tumor marker for the diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the decisive role of preoperative serum thrombopoietin levels in the discrimination of benign and malignant ovarian pathologies and its value in the evaluation of treatment response.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty patients with diagnoses of adnexal masses (25 benign, 25 malignant) were included in the study. Blood samples were collected from all cases preoperatively. Age, menopausal status, adnexal mass size, preoperative CA-125 level, platelet count, the stage of the disease (FIGO stage), tumor grade, histologic subgroup, the residual tumor mass, ascites cytology, surgical procedures, and postoperative treatments were recorded for the malignant group. Response to treatment was evaluated based on the revised RECIST guideline.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The preoperative serum thrombopoietin levels of the malignant cases (median, 98; range, 7 to 768) were significantly higher when compared with those of benign cases (median, 27; range, 13 to 131; p=0.004). The positive predictive value of CA-125 was found to be 79%, when it was used as a single marker; however it had risen to 85% when both CA-125 and thrombopoietin levels were used. There was no significant relationship between preoperative serum thrombopoietin levels and tumor grade, ascites cytology, presence of residual mass, and response to treatment. The preoperative serum thrombopoietin levels were significantly higher in stage III-IV cases and cases with serous histology. The post-treatment serum thrombopoietin levels in the malignant group were significantly lower as compared with the preoperative thrombopoietin levels.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Thrombopoietin can play an additive role for prediction of ovarian cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ege University School of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Timucin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mermer
authors.forename: Mustafa Cosan
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Terek
authors.forename: Burak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zeybek
authors.forename: Ahmet Mete
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ergenoglu
authors.forename: Ahmet Ozgur
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Yeniel
authors.forename: Aydın
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ozsaran
authors.forename: Osman
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Zekioglu