The tumor antigen CA 125 is known to be elevated in the some endometrial carcinoma patients. In several reports, the serum levels of CA 125 seem to be increased in the majority of patients with advanced disease, but only in about 10-20% of patients with stage I disease. In other reports, no such correlation between CA 125 levels and extent of disease has been observed. The purpose of this study was to evaluate relevance of CA 125 level and stage of endometrial cancer.

This is a clinical study of 46 cases of endometrial cancer evaluated at Chun-an Soonchunhyang University Hospital during Jan. 1997 to Jan. 2004. The age of patients distributed from 36 to 76 years old. The concentration of serum CA 125 tumor marker was determined for all patients who were prepared for surgery. Patients of stage I, II was 26 cases and stage III, IV was 20 cases. For the statistical analysis, we employed the Mann-Whitney U test (p<0.05).

22 patients of stage I, 4 of stage II, 12 of stage III and 8 of stage IV were confirmed by postoperative pathohistologic analysis. The CA 125 level of stage I, II group and stage III, IV group were checked from 6.2 U/mL to 562 U/mL. In stage I, II group, mean value of CA 125 was 44.52+/-17.02. In the other group, mean value of CA 125 was 128.91+/-53.15. p-value of T-test was not significant (p:0.06>0.05). But, by Mann-Whitney U test, mean ranking of stage I, II group was 9.38 and stage III, IV group 15.40. p-value of Mann-Whitney U test is statistically significant (p:0.04<0.05).

Determination of tumor markers appears to be important in endometrial cancer patients. Concentrations of serum CA 125 in patient sera may indicate the level of malignant potential and thus help in choosing an appropriate therapeutic procedure.