Adding Cancer Antigen 125 Screening to Gray Scale Sonography for Predicting Specific Diagnosis of Benign Adnexal Masses in Premenopausal Women

Juan Luis Alcázar, S. Guerriero, José Ángel Mínguez, S. Ajossa, Anna Maria Paoletti, Álvaro Ruiz-Zambrana, M. Jurado
In: Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine · 2011 · vol. 30(10) , pp. 1381–1386 · doi:10.7863/jum.2011.30.10.1381 · PMID:21968488 · W1935948634
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 5 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess whether a single determination of the serum cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) level provides additional information to sonography for specific diagnosis of benign adnexal masses in premenopausal women. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study comprising 1058 premenopausal women (mean age, 34.8 years) with histologically proven benign adnexal masses. All women had undergone transvaginal sonography and serum CA-125 determination within 1 week before surgery and tumor removal. According to "pattern recognition" analysis, a presumptive diagnosis was provided on gray scale transvaginal sonography for all masses. Positive and negative likelihood ratios were calculated for gray scale sonography and gray scale sonography plus CA-125. RESULTS: Eighty-five women had bilateral masses (1143 masses analyzed). In 7 women with bilateral masses, the histologic diagnoses of the masses were discordant and were excluded. Histologic diagnoses were as follows: endometrioma, n = 452; dermoid cyst, n = 180; serous cyst, n = 158; hemorrhagic cyst, n = 119; mucinous cyst, n = 54; hydrosalpinx, n = 37; and other, n = 109. The median CA-125 level was significantly higher in endometrioma (71.9 IU/mL; range: 5-2620 IU/mL) and hydrosalpinx (59.2 IU/mL; range, 5-601 IU/mL) compared to all other tumor types (P < .001). The CA-125 level was 35 IU/mL or higher in 74% of endometriomas, 58% of hydrosalpinges, 34% of hemorrhagic cysts, 18% of mucinous cysts, 14% of dermoid cysts, and 8% of serous cysts. The positive and negative likelihood ratios for sonography and sonography plus CA-125 (335 IU/mL) for each kind of tumor were not statistically different except for endometrioma, for which the positive likelihood ratio for sonography plus CA-125 (55.0; 95% confidence interval, 27.5-109.9) was significantly higher than for sonography alone (19.2; 95% confidence interval, 13.6-27.1). CONCLUSIONS: Cancer antigen 125 screening does not add useful information for specific diagnosis of benign adnexal tumors, except for endometrioma. An elevated CA-125 level significantly increases the probability of such a lesion.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometrioma

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (21)

Cited by (5)

Source provenance

openalex
last seen: 2026-06-04T00:00:01.174412+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-06-04T02:00:05.705006+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK