Can CA-125 Predict Lymph Node Metastasis in Epithelial Ovarian Cancers in Turkish Population?

Objective . The role of single preoperative serum CA-125 levels in predicting pelvic or paraaortic lymph node metastasis in patients operated for epithelial ovarian cancer has been investigated. Methods . 176 patients diagnosed with epithelial ovarian carcinoma after staging laparotomy between January 2002 and May 2010 were evaluated retrospectively. Results . The mean, geometric mean, and median of preoperative serum CA-125 levels were 632,6, 200,29, and 191,5 U/mL, respectively. The cut-off value predicting lymph node metastases in the ROC curve was 71,92 U/mL, which is significant in logistic regression analysis ( P = 0.005). The preoperative log CA-125 levels were also statistically significant in predicting lymph node metastasis in logistic regression analysis ( P = 0.008). Conclusions . The tumor marker CA-125, which increases with grade independent of the effect of stage in EOC, is predictive of lymph node metastasis with a high rate of false positivity in Turkish population. The high false positive rate may obscure the predictive value of CA-125.