CA-125 in fine-needle aspirates of solid tumors: comparison with cytologic diagnosis and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) assay

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Diagnostic cytopathology

Abstract

UNLABELLED: One hundred and twenty-two fine needle aspirates (FNA) from female patients were studied to determine whether CA-125 assay contributed to cytologic diagnosis and CEA assay. Cytologic examination was done on Papanicolaou-stained smears and cell blocks, CEA by EIA (Abbott Laboratory, > 5 ng/ml cutoff) and CA-125 by RIA (Abbott Laboratory, North Chicago, IL, > 66 mu/ml cutoff). Final diagnosis were correlated with histologic diagnosis when available, clinical, radiologic studies, and follow-up. RESULTS: 29 benign, 93 malignant. Sensitivities and specificities: cytology, 91%, 100%; CEA: 59%, 86%; CA-125, 50%, 55%. CEA plus cytology sensitivity, 97%. CA-125 content was highest in endometrial/ovarian carcinoma (39,899 mu/ml) and < 5,000 mu/ml in other tumors and benign FNA in contrast to CEA which showed highest levels in carcinomas of colon, pancreas, and lung (> 280 ng/ml). While elevated CEA enhances the sensitivity of cytologic diagnosis of carcinomas of the colon, pancreas, and lung, low CEA and high CA-125 content supports an ovarian/endometrial primary.

First Page

121

Last Page

5

DOI

10.1002/(SICI)1097-0339(199603)14:2<121::AID-DC4>3.0.CO;2-M

Publication Date

3-1-1996

Identifier

8964167 (pubmed); 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0339(199603)14:2<121::AID-DC4>3.0.CO;2-M (doi); 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0339(199603)14:2<121::AID-DC4>3.0.CO;2-M (pii)

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS