Correlation Between Clinical Outcomes and Serum CA-125 Levels After Standard Treatment for Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Abstract

Background/aim: To analyze the relationship between clinical outcomes for epithelial ovarian cancer and serum CA-125 levels after chemotherapy in Korean women.

Patients and methods: This study included 183 patients who underwent the standard treatment regimen for epithelial ovarian cancer. They were divided into early- (I, II) and advanced-stage (III, IV) groups. Serum CA-125 level after adjuvant chemotherapy completion (post-chemotherapy; PC-CA-125) was measured. Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), platinum-free interval (PFI), and platinum resistance were evaluated.

Results: In advanced-stage group, OS, PFS, PFI, and platinum resistance were significantly correlated with PC-CA-125. In early-stage group, PFS and platinum resistance differed significantly. Cutoff value for platinum resistance was 10.45 U/ml, 10.40 U/ml, and 15.80 U/ml for study population, early stage, and advanced groups, respectively. Accuracy was 71.1%-77.1%.

Conclusion: PC-CA-125 is correlated with clinical outcomes in ovarian cancer. Thus, CA-125 can be used to predict platinum resistance in ovarian cancer treatment.

Keywords: CA-125; Ovarian cancer; chemotherapy; clinical outcomes; overall survival; platinum resistance; platinum-free interval; progression-free survival.