BackgroundSerum CA125 is routinely used in the follow up of ovarian cancer. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the usefulness of CA125 in the detection of ovarian cancer recurrence.MethodsThis retrospective case study was carried out at a tertiary gynaecological cancer centre in Australia. Patients with all cell types of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) treated between 2003 and2010 were considered eligible. We excluded patients whose aim of treatment was palliative, had no follow-up, had no pre-operative CA125 reading or had pre-operative CA125 levels < 35 U/mL. After primary treatment, patients were followed up as per guidelines suggested by National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). We recorded if symptoms, findings from physical examination, imaging or serum CA125 levels led to the diagnosis of recurrence. An increase in CA125 levels to twice the postoperative nadir was considered as "doubling" at any time during follow up.ResultsAnalysis is based on 56 patients who completed primary treatment and who presented for a total of 274 follow-up episodes. Of those, 29 patients (52%) developed a recurrence within the follow up period. Recurrence was diagnosed by CA125 alone in 14 of 29 patients (48%). CA125 was not elevated in 7 patients (24%) who recurred. Doubling of CA125 from nadir was observed in 27/29 patients. Of those 27 patients the doubling from nadir occurred within the normal range of 35 U/ml in 3 cases and outside the normal range in 24 cases. Multivariate analysis suggests that doubling of serum CA125 (OR 5.10, p 0.036) and nadir CA125 > 10 U/ml (OR 2.86, p 0.01) remained the only independent factors to predict ovarian cancer recurrence.ConclusionsThe present paper proposes the validation of a novel CA125 algorithm aiming to detect recurrent EOC. These data may allow us to investigate novel ways of follow up that do not require a patient's physical attendance at a clinic (virtual follow-up).
Uterine cancer is the most common invasive gynaecological cancer in Australia. Early detection is a key predictive factor achieved by increasing public awareness and participation in screening. This observational study measures awareness of gynaecological malignancies, particularly uterine, among women in two rural areas of New South Wales, Australia. Patients presenting to gynaecology clinics in January to March 2014 were invited to complete a structured questionnaire. Women with a history of cancer and incomplete questionnaires were excluded. Of the 382 patients invited to participate, 329 (86%) responded with complete feedback. Most respondents were younger than than 50 years (66%) and married with at least 2 children (74%). The majority (94%) of participants had no awareness of uterine cancer and many (46%) were unable to identify common risk factors including obesity, diabetes and hypertension. The ability to identify risk factors was correlated to age, marital status and obesity. The study identifies poor awareness on uterine malignancies in two typical areas of rural Australia. Although external validity is limited by sociological factors, poor awareness of uterine cancer among rural patients in this study represents a valid public health concern. It is imperative to improve awareness of uterine cancer and available screening programs to facilitate early detection and cure.
Surgical complications have a significant impact on the well-being of Australian and New Zealand obstetricians and gynaecologists. Existing support comes from colleagues and family, but structured, unbiased support for surgeons from a professional source is urgently warranted.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.