Abstract
Objective : To evaluate the prognostic significance and usefulness for predicting, survival of preoperative serum CA125 levels and chemotherapy in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian carcinoma.
Materials : This retrospective investigation assessed 56 patients with stage III-IV, epithelial ovarian carcinoma who underwent initial surgery followed by paclitaxel/carboplatin chemotherapy and had shown serum CA125>35U/ml before surgery.
Methods : To correlate serum CA125 regression with progression free interval, we analyzed variation of CA125 at the notarization point using Pearson's correlation coefficient and log-rank test.
Measurement and Results : During the initial treatment period, 43 patients (77%) showed normalization of the serum CA125 level. The mean interval until achieving a normal level of CA125 was 19.5months (range 1-77months). Pearson's correlation coefficient between the interval until normalization and progression-free survival was 0.40 (p<0.01).
Conclusions : The interval until serum CA125 levels normalized was shown to be a significant prognostic parameter.
