Open AccessUnusually High Serum Levels of CA 19-9 in an Ovarian Tumour: Malignant or Benign?
Author(s) -
Divya Pandey,
Ritu Sharma,
Shakti Sharma,
Sudha Salhan
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of clinical and diagnostic research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2249-782X
pISSN - 0973-709X
DOI - 10.7860/jcdr/2017/21017.9506
Subject(s) - mucinous cystadenoma , ovary , abdominal hysterectomy , laparotomy , pathology , medicine , cystadenoma , ca19 9 , tumor marker , hysterectomy , cancer , pancreas , surgery , pancreatic cancer
Carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) is a tumour marker found to be elevated in some ovarian tumours. We share our experience with a 55-year-old postmenopausal lady with unusually high CA19-9 levels arising from a benign mucinous cystadenoma of the ovary. The levels returned to normal eight weeks following staging laparotomy and a total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oopherectomy. This report shows rare and significant elevation of CA 19-9 levels with benign mucinous cystadenomas of the ovary thus showing that women with unusually elevated tumour markers may actually harbour benign disease. The tumour markers should not be used to predict the malignant status of a tumour.