Biochemical aids in the monitoring of patients with ovarian cancer

A study of possible biochemical markers of tumor recurrence and progression was made in 93 patients with ovarian cancer followed longitudinally for up to 2 years during treatment by moderate or aggressive chemotherapy regimens. A panel of potential indicators was tested; the combination of serum albumin, C-reactive protein, α 1-acid glycoprotein, and phosphohexose isomerase levels was found to provide information that is useful as an adjunct to the clinical assessment of patients with advanced disease. However, the system could not detect a small tumor burden. The level of β 2-microglobulin may have value in those patients whose tumor is associated with an increase of this analyte (77%), but it would appear to reflect a large tumor mass. Serum CEA, carcino-placental alkaline phosphatase, transferrin, and prealbumin were not found to be helpful.