Pretreatment CA 15-3 levels do not predict disease-free survival in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer

• Published in: Tumori 2013-03, Vol.99 (2), p.257-260
• Main Authors: Gemer, Ofer, Oustinov, Natalia, Gdalevich, Michael, Dubnik, Serge, Levy, Roni, Yachnin, Adela, Lavie, Ofer, Ben Baruch, Noa, Ben Arie, Alon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2038-2529
• DOI: 10.1700/1283.14201

AIMSTo evaluate the role of pretreatment CA 15-3 levels as a predictor of disease-free survival in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer. METHODSA cohort of 65 patients with FIGO stage III or IV epithelial ovarian cancer was evaluated. Patients were treated either with primary cytoreductive surgery followed by adjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy or with neoadjuvant chemotherapy with interval debulking surgery. All patients had pretreatment CA 15-3 and CA 125 tumor marker determinations. The patients were divided into a group with elevated CA 15-3 and a group with normal levels. The two groups were compared with regard to clinical and survival measures. RESULTSThe patients' median age was 65 years (range, 37-90); 34 (52%) were at stage III and 31 (48%) at stage IV. CA 15-3 was elevated (>30 units/mL) in 44 (68%) patients, with a median level of 39 units (range, 4-2282). CA 125 was elevated (>35 units/mL) in 61 (94%) patients, with a median level of 947 units (range, 4-30,642). CA 125 and CA 15-3 levels were not correlated (r = 0.015, P = 0.332). The median follow-up was 22 months (range, 3-120 months). Fifty-three (81%) patients had disease recurrence and 43 (66%) died. Survival analysis showed that patients with elevated and normal CA 15-3 levels had similar recurrence-free survival (P = 0.78) and overall survival (P = 0.55). CONCLUSIONSAlthough elevated in the majority of patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer, CA 15-3 levels are not predictive of survival.