Serum Ca-125 concentrations in endometriosis.

L Fedele, Luigi Fedele, Fedele L, Arcaini L, Luca Arcaini, L Arcaini, Vercellini P, Paolo Vercellini, P Vercellini, Marchini M, Maurizio Marchini, M Marchini, Baglioni A, A. Baglioni, S Bianchi, Bianchi S, Stefano Bianchi
Acta Europaea fertilitatis · 1990 · vol. 20(3) , pp. 137–9 · PMID:2533779 · W2408919097
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 6 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-07, 2026-07-11 ⓘ

Serum Ca-125 was significantly higher in stages III and IV endometriosis patients, but its low sensitivity limits its diagnostic use, though high values may indicate surgical exploration.

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Abstract

Serum Ca-125 levels were measured in 154 patients undergoing laparoscopy or laparotomy for infertility and/or pelvic pain. Pelvic endometriosis at various stages was observed in 102 of the patients, and 52 had a visually normal pelvis and served as a control group. We found a significantly higher mean serum Ca-125 concentration in the patients with stages III and IV endometriosis compared with the controls (P less than 0.001) whereas in the patients with stages I and II disease the mean antigen level was comparable to that of the control group. Considering its low sensitivity (14.7%) the usefulness of serum Ca-125 measurements as an initial diagnostic test for endometriosis is scanty. On the contrary, because of its elevated specificity (100%), this test may be useful in indicating early surgical exploration of the pelvis in cases of infertility and/or dysmenorrhea which are associated with high values of Ca-125.

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Condition tags

endometriosisdysmenorrheainfertility

MeSH descriptors

Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate Endometriosis Adult Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Humans Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Laparoscopy

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.

Cited by (6)

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europepmc
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License: CC0 · commercial use OK