Does preoperative CA-125 cutoff value and percent reduction in CA-125 levels correlate with surgical and survival outcome after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with advanced-stage ovarian cancer? – Our experience from a tertiary cancer institute

AIM: The aim of the study is to evaluate percent fall in CA-125 levels after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and preoperative CA-125 value to predict surgical and survival outcomes in women with advanced-stage epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). METHODS: A retrospective review of 406 women receiving NAC for advanced-stage EOC from January 2012 to July 2015 was conducted. Data were collected for demography, radiographic profile, CA-125 levels before and after NAC, chemotherapy, and surgicopathological information. Percent fall in CA-125 was categorized into two groups: <95% (R < 95) and >95% (R > 95) fall from prechemotherapy to preoperative levels. Similarly, women were also categorized using preoperative CA-125 levels of <100 and >100 U/ml. A subset of women from January 2012 to December 2013 was followed to June 2015 for evidence of any recurrence to determine survival outcomes. RESULTS: About 56% women had R > 95 and 44% had R < 95. As compared to R < 95, R > 95 group was more likely to have complete cytoreduction (P = 0.00). Furthermore, women with R > 95 had significant better progression-free survival (PFS) as compared to women with R < 95 (P = 0.009) but no difference in overall survival (OS) (P = 0.28). Women with preoperative CA-125 <100 had significant higher number of complete cytoreduction (55% vs. 40%; P = 0.00) and were associated with both PFS (P = 0.007) and OS benefit (P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: Our data showed that >95% fall in CA-125 and an absolute preoperative CA-125 value of <100 U/ml is associated with better surgical and survival outcome in women with advanced EOC. These data are important in patient counseling and treatment planning.