A. Sevinc et al., Elevated serum CA-125 levels in hemodialysis patients with peritoneal, pleural, or pericardial fluids, GYNECOL ONC, 77(2), 2000, pp. 254-257
Objective. Serum CA-125, an ovarian tumor marker, is used especially in the
follow-up of ovarian cancer for monitoring the efficacy of therapy and for
early detection of recurrence. A number of benign gynecologic as well as b
enign and malignant nongynecologic conditions are associated with elevated
serum CA-125 levels. Malignant and nonmalignant serosal fluids were also fo
und to be associated with high serum levels of CA-125, suggesting that the
presence of fluid in the serosal cavities may stimulate its release.
Methods. We performed a clinical study in 39 patients (21 females, 18 males
) on chronic hemodialysis who were divided into two groups based on the pre
sence of fluid in the serosal cavities (peritoneum, pleura, or pericardium)
without clinical and radiologic evidence of neoplasia. There were 26 patie
nts (16 females, 10 males) aged 50.11 +/- 13.86 years (range, 20-76 years)
in the serosal fluid-negative group (group 1) and 13 patients (8 females, 5
males) aged 45.30 +/- 18.84 years (range, 17-73 years) in the serosal flui
d-positive group (group 2). The control group consisted of 52 healthy volun
teers (30 females, 22 males) aged 44.19 +/- 12.59 years (range, 19-68 years
).
Results. Significantly elevated serum CA-125 levels were found in hemodialy
sis patients with serosal fluid (P < 0.05) when compared with both the hemo
dialysis patients without serosal fluid and the control group. There was no
statistically significant difference between the control group and the pat
ients without serosal fluids (P > 0.05).
Conclusion. Although CA-125 can be considered a reliable tumor marker in pa
tients undergoing hemodialysis, it should be interpreted with caution in pa
tients with serosal fluids. (C) 2000 Academic Press.