Abstract
Introduction: The clinical relevancy of the serum CA-125 antigen level in assessing gynecologic malignancy has been well established, particularly in ovarian cancer. However, there have been limited case studies reported in the literature of patients with benign disease who have exhibited extremely high CA-125 levels. Case Report: A 43-year-old woman presented with abdominal pain. Her preoperative serum CA-125 level was 2275 U/mL, suggestive of an ovarian malignancy. Surgical findings and histologic evaluation revealed a ruptured ovarian endometrioma. Conclusion: The serum CA-125 marker has often been used to assess malignancy status. Because there are only scant cases of patients with highly elevated CA-125 levels who have exhibited benign findings reported in the literature, gynecologic patients who present with greatly elevated serum CA-125 levels and a pelvic mass should be evaluated for an ovarian malignancy. (J GYNECOL SURG 21:117)
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.