Can Replacing CA125 with HE4 in Risk of Malignancy Indices 1–4 Improve Diagnostic Performance in the Presurgical Assessment of Adnexal Tumors?

AIMS: To assess whether replacing CA125 with HE4 in the classical formulas of risk of malignancy indices (RMIs) can improve diagnostic performance. METHODS: For each of 312 patients with an adnexal mass, classical RMIs 1–4 were computed based on ultrasound score, menopausal status, and serum CA125 levels. Additionally, modified RMIs (mRMIs) 1–4 were recalculated by replacing CA125 with HE4. RESULTS: Malignant pathology was diagnosed in 52 patients (16.67%). There was no significant difference in diagnostic performance (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC]) between each classical RMI and its corresponding mRMI. In the entire sample, the AUC was 0.899, 0.900, 0.895, and 0.908 for classical RMIs 1–4 compared to 0.903, 0.929, 0.930, and 0.931 for mRMIs 1–4. In premenopausal patients, the AUC was 0.818, 0.798, 0.795, and 0.802 for classical RMIs 1–4 compared to 0.839, 0.875, 0.876, and 0.856 for mRMIs 1–4. In postmenopausal patients, the AUC was 0.906, 0.895, 0.896, and 0.906 for classical RMIs 1–4 compared to 0.907, 0.923, 0.924, and 0.930 for mRMI 1–4. CONCLUSIONS: Use of HE4 instead of CA125 did not significantly improve diagnostic performance of RMIs 1–4 in patients with an adnexal mass.