The Average Time Gap Between CA-125 Tumor Marker Elevation and Confirmation of Recurrence in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Patients at Princess Noorah Oncology Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

The monitoring of the tumor marker cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) is commonly used as a part of epithelial ovarian cancer monitoring for recurrence. This study seeks to calculate the average time between CA-125 elevation above 35 IU/mL and evidence of recurrence through any currently accepted modality (positive clinical findings, biopsy, imaging, or PET [positron emission tomography] findings) in a patient population in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. We studied patients who were diagnosed between January 2006 and December 2016, underwent successful primary therapy, and were then followed up at Princess Noorah Oncology Center, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. We adopted a cross-sectional chart review study design. We used inclusive (consecutive) sampling. A total of 13 patients were included, of whom 76.9% (10 patients) developed CA-125 elevations above 35 IU/mL prior to the confirmation of recurrence. If all 13 patients are included in the mean average calculation, the mean average time elapsed between CA-125 elevation and confirmation of recurrence was 161.5 days (standard deviation ± 230.6). If only the 10 patients who did exhibit a CA-125 elevation above 35 IU/mL were included, the mean average was 210 days (standard deviation ± 244.2).