Cancer Antigen-125 and Carcinoembryonic Antigen in Determining Malignancy Risk in Epithelial Ovarian Tumor: An Observational Study

TL;DR

This study evaluates how well CA-125 and CEA blood tests can distinguish between benign and malignant ovarian tumors.

Contribution

The study provides empirical evidence on the diagnostic accuracy of CA-125 and CEA for epithelial ovarian tumors.

Findings

CA-125 showed 90.90% sensitivity and 87.20% specificity for malignancy detection.

CEA had lower sensitivity (36.40%) but high specificity (89.70%) for malignancy.

Most tumors were serous (67.90%), with benign tumors being more common than malignant ones.

Abstract

Epithelial ovarian cancers make up about 90% of ovarian malignancies and are often diagnosed late due to its vague symptoms. Cancer Antigen-125 (CA-125) and Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA), play a pivotal role in differentiating benign from malignant ovarian tumors and aid in assessing malignancy risk.

The study was hospital-based cross-sectional study conducted at Paropakar Maternity and Women’s Hospital among 53 women diagnosed with ovarian tumors scheduled for surgery. Data were collected between July to December 2023. Non-epithelial tumors were excluded after obtaining final histopathology report. Preoperative CA-125 and CEA levels were correlated with epithelial ovarian tumors. Data analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences software version 29.

Among 53 cases, 13 (33.30%) cases belonged to 40-49 years age group, while 5 (45.40%) cases of malignant tumors were in the 50–59 years age group. There were 5 (45.50%) cases of malignant tumors in women with parity two, while 11 (28.20%) cases of benign tumors in women with parity two. There were 39 (73.60%) benign cases, 3 (5.65%) borderline, and 11 (20.75%) malignant tumors. There were 36 (67.90%) serous tumors and 15 (28.30%) cases were mucinous tumors. Cancer Antigen-125 (>35 IU/mL) had high sensitivity 90.90%) and specificity (87.20%) for malignancy, while Carcinoembryonic Antigen (>3 ng/mL) had sensitivity 36.40% and high specificity 89.70% for malignancy.

Cancer Antigen-125 showed high sensitivity and specificity in distinguishing malignant from benign epithelial ovarian tumors. Carcinoembryonic Antigen, while less sensitive, provided high specificity.

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