Positive correlation between serum and peritoneal fluid CA-125 levels in women with pelvic endometriosis

• Autor(a) principal: Amaral,Vivian Ferreira do
• Data de Publicação: 2006
• Outros Autores: Ferriani,Rui Alberto, Sá,Marcos Felipe Silva de, Nogueira,Antonio Alberto, Silva,Julio César Rosa e, Silva,Ana Carolina Japur de Sá Rosa e, Moura,Marcos Dias de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: São Paulo medical journal (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-31802006000400010
• topic: Endometriosis; CA-125 antigen; Estradiol; Laparoscopy; Infertility

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: One of the diagnostic markers of endometriosis is CA-125, and elevated levels of this are caused by high concentrations in the ectopic endometrium. The objective of this study was to correlate CA-125 levels in serum and peritoneal fluid from women with and without pelvic endometriosis. DESIGN AND SETTING: This was a prospective, cross-sectional, controlled study of consecutive pa-tients undergoing laparoscopy for infertility, pelvic pain or tubal ligation, during early follicular phase, at the university hospital of Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto. METHODS: Fifty-two patients were divided into two groups: endometriosis group, consisting of 35 patients with biopsy-confirmed pelvic endometriosis, and control group, consisting of 17 patients without endometriosis. CA-125 levels in serum samples and peritoneal fluid were determined by chemiluminescence. RESULTS: CA-125 levels in serum and peritoneal fluid were higher in patients with advanced pelvic endometriosis (means of 39.1 ± 45.8 U/ml versus 10.5 ± 5.9 U/ml in serum, p < 0.005; 1,469.4 ± 1,350.4 U/ml versus 888.7 ± 784.3 U/ml in peritoneal fluid, p < 0.05), and showed a positive correlation between each other (correlation coefficient (r) = 0.4880). Women with more advanced degrees of endometriosis showed higher CA-125 levels in both serum and peritoneal fluid (p = 0.0001). CONCLUSION: There is a positive correlation between serum and peritoneal fluid values of CA-125 in women with and without endometriosis, and their levels are higher in peritoneal fluid. Advanced endometriosis is related to higher levels in both serum and peritoneal fluid.