Serum CA 125 levels before, during and after treatment for endometriosis

G Ozakşit, Gülnur Özakşit, Turhan Çağlar, T Cağlar, N Ciçek, Neslihan Çiçek, E Kuşçu, Esra Kuşçu, S Batioğlu, Sertaç Batıoğlu, Oya Gökmen, O Gökmen
International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics · 1995 · vol. 50(3) , pp. 269–273 · doi:10.1016/0020-7292(95)02456-m · PMID:8543110 · W2003039402
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 13 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

Serum CA 125 levels decrease during GnRH agonist treatment for endometriosis, returning to pretreatment levels after therapy, and the marker's predictive value for recurrence is low.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the treatment of endometriosis with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist in terms of changes to the extent of disease and to CA 125 levels as well as to recurrence during follow-up. METHODS: The levels of serum CA 125 were evaluated in 66 patients with endometriosis diagnosed and staged by laparoscopy according to the revised American Fertility. Society classification, who received a 6-month course of a GnRH agonist. Serum CA 125 levels were measured before, during (3 and 6 months after the initiation of therapy) and 6 months after cessation of therapy. RESULTS: Patients with minimal and mild endometriosis had significantly higher mean pretreatment values than control subjects in the luteal phase of the cycle or than postmenopausal women (P < 0.05), but the overall mean value was still below 35 U/ml. Levels of CA 125 fell during treatment to those found in normal controls, but rose again after the end of treatment. The sensitivity and specificity of CA 125 were 75% and 83.3%, respectively, and its positive predictive value as a marker of recurrence was 46.36%. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that CA 125 may be a reliable indicator for monitoring the efficacy of GnRH agonist treatment of endometriosis, but its value as a predictor of recurrence is low, probably due to the suppression of all CA 125 sources such as endometrium, ovaries and implants.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Buserelin CA-125 Antigen Endometriosis Endometriosis Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Buserelin CA-125 Antigen Endometriosis Female Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Humans Predictive Value of Tests Recurrence Sensitivity and Specificity Treatment Outcome

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 (22)

Cited by (13)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-04T01:30:01.192114+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:11:13.665691+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK