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CA 125 elevation

Dr Praveen Jha and Dr Yuranga Weerakkody et al.

The serum CA-125 level is well known as an ovarian cancer-associated marker and is an antigen determinant on a high-molecular-weight glycoprotein. It can be elevated for a number of reasons.

ovarian malignancy : can be elevated in 80 - 85% of ovarian cancer patients ^1,4
Fallopian tube malignancy
normal healthy subjects : can be elevated in approximately 0.2 - 5.9 % of healthy control subjects ^1,5
liver cirrhosis
endometriosis
adenomyosis ⁶
first-trimester pregnancy
pelvic inflammatory disease
pancreatitis
advanced intra-abdominal non-ovarian malignancy : can be elevated in up to 40% of such patients ¹