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.