Abstract
Objective
To evaluate the role of clinical features and preoperativemeasurement of cancer antigen 125 (CA125), human epididymis protein(HE4), and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) serum levels in women with benign and malignant non-epithelial ovarian tumors.
Methods
One hundred and nineteen consecutive women with germ cell, sex cordstromal, and ovarian leiomyomas were included in this study. The preoperative levels of biomarkers were measured, and then surgery and histopathological analysis were performed. Information about the treatment and disease recurrence were obtained from the medical files of patients.
Results
Our sample included 71 women with germ cell tumors (64 benign and 7 malignant), 46 with sex cord-stromal tumors (32 benign and 14 malignant), and 2 with ovarian leiomyomas. Among benign germ cell tumors, 63 were mature teratomas, and, amongmalignant, fourwere immatureteratomas. Themost common tumors in the sex cordstromal group were fibromas (benign) and granulosa cell tumor (malignant). The biomarker serum levels were not different among benign andmalignant non-epithelial ovarian tumors. Fertility-sparing surgeries were performed in 5 (71.4%) women with malignant germ cell tumor. Eleven (78.6%) patients with malignant sex cord-stromal tumors were treated with fertility-sparing surgeries. Five women (71.4%) with germ cell tumors and only 1 (7.1%) with sex cord-stromal tumor were treated with chemotherapy. One woman with germ cell tumor recurred and died of the disease and one woman with sex cord-stromal tumor recurred.
Conclusion
Non-epithelial ovarian tumors were benign in the majority of cases, and the malignant caseswere diagnosed at initial stages with good prognosis. Themeasurements of CA125, HE4, and CEA serum levels were not useful in the preoperative diagnosis of these tumors.
Keywords:
non-epithelial ovarian tumors; ovarian cancer; biomarkers; germ cell tumors; sex cord-stromal tumors