CA125 in Endometrial Cancer

Serum CA125 is elevated in some endometrial cancer patients. The purpose of the present study was to assess the correlation between elevated CA125 serum levels and surgical pathologic staging, histologic classification, and depth of myometrial invasion. CA125 serum levels were measured in 43 patients with endometrial cancer prior to definitive surgery. Mean age was 66,5 ± 10,23 (range 43-87), 14 patients (32,6%) had elevated CA125 values (mean 314.9 ± 464.2, range 49,8-1568 U/ml), while 29 (67,4%) had normal values. 12 out of 14 patients with elevated value of the CA125, (85,6%) had advanced stage disease (FIGO stage IIB-IIIA-IVB), and 58,3% had endometrioid adenocarcinoma and 2 (16.6%) patients each had serous-papillary adenocarcinomas and had clear cells carcinomas and 1 (8,3%) had adenosquamous carcinoma. Grading was not realted to elevation of serum CA125 as 28,5% of the patients had well differentiated tumors, 42,8% had moderately differentiated tumors and 28,5% had poorly differentiated tumors. The depth of myometral infiltration, in the advanced stages, was not correlated with CA125 serum levels as. The results of this study suggest that elevated values of CA125 are present in 32% of endometrial cancer patients; this finding is suggestive of advanced stage disease and with high grading, but it is not related with histologic typing and depth of myometrial infiltration.