Diagnosis of the recurrence of epithelial ovarian cancer with the tumor marker CA 125

Aim of this study was to evaluate the significance of serum CA 125 levels in our ovarian cancer follow-up programme for earlier detection of recurrent or progressive disease. 43 out of 133 patients developed tumour progression, whereby 42 (97.7%) showed positive serum CA 125 levels and in 25 patients (58.2%) the increase in tumour marker preceded the first clinical signs by 4 to 36 weeks. The mean lead time was 14.2 weeks. Hence, determination of serum CA 125 should be mandatory in the follow-up investigation of women with epithelial ovarian carcinomas.