Serum Ca-125 concentrations in endometriosis.

Luigi Fedele, L Fedele, L Arcaini, Luca Arcaini, Paolo Vercellini, P Vercellini, M Marchini, Maurizio Marchini, A Baglioni, S Bianchi, 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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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

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License: CC0 · commercial use OK