CA125 is currently the most widely used tumor marker for ovarian epithelial cancer. The aim of this article is to provide guidelines for the routine clinical use of CA125 in patients with ovarian cancer. Due to lack of sensitivity for stage I disease and lack of specificity, CA125 is of little value in the detection of early ovarian cancer. At present, therefore, CA125, either alone or in combination with other modalities, cannot be recommended for screening for ovarian cancer in asymptomatic women outside the context of a randomized controlled trial. Preoperative levels in postmenopausal women, however, may aid the differentiation of benign and malignant pelvic masses. Serial levels during chemotherapy for ovarian cancer are useful for assessing response to treatment. Although serial monitoring following initial chemotherapy can lead to the early detection of recurrent disease, the clinical value of this lead-time is unclear. CA125 is the ovarian cancer marker against which new markers for this malignancy should be judged.

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) antigen (Ag) present and expressed in normal epithelium and epithelial tissues is used primarily as tumor marker of SCC of the uterine cervix. In this review, we considered factors interfering in vitro with the collection of samples and assay procedures, benign and malignant nongynecological diseases which may be the cause of elevated serum levels of SCC Ag. Contamination with skin or saliva strongly influences SCC Ag levels. SCC Ag is elevated in several benign lesions, including pulmonary (tuberculosis, adult respiratory distress syndrome, pulmonary infiltration with eosinophilia, sarcoidosis, bronchogenic cyst) and skin (eczema, pemphigus, erythroderma epidermitis, psoriasis) diseases. Elevations are observed in SCC malignancies of the head and neck, esophagus, skin, lung, urothelium, anal canal and vulva.

Torre GC, Rembado R, Barbetti V, Vigliercio GP, Foglia M, Calabrese A, Corongiu F. Serum levels of tumor-associated trypsin inhibitor (TATI) in benign and malignant gynecological diseases. Scand J Clin Lab Invest 1991; 51 (Suppl. 207): 15-18.The behavior of tumor-associated trypsin inhibitor (TATI) as a marker for gynecological cancer was studied in a control population and in patients with different benign and malignant diseases. When a cut-off level of 21.4 pgll was used the specificity was 100% in patients with benign diseases. The sensitivity in patients with malignant tumors was low for cervical and corpus cancer, 13% and 14%, respectively, whereas it was 33% in all the ovarian malignant tumors, reaching 60% in the mucinous type. There was a clear correlation between TATI level and stage.

In 1982 a programme of multi-disciplinary follow-up on 12 patients that underwent a gastric tube oesophagoplasty for long-gap oesophageal atresia was started. Radiological examination, performed on all gastric tubes but one (died a few days after surgery), assessed the morphology and dynamics of gastric tube, either distally or proximally based, and stomach 2 to 8 years after surgery. Endoscopic backward exploration was performed on 7 cases, to allow a closer analysis of stomach, gastric tube mucosa and upper oesophageal stump, demonstrating that the gastric transplant is viable and almost undamaged. No evidence of oesophagitis of the proximal stump was found. Histological stainings on biopsy specimens and on sections from one post-mortem examination, showed a mild degree of dystrophy in gastric tube mucosa, progressively shading into proper gastric mucosa. No evidence of a progressive change for the worse was found in any of the 7 tubes controlled.

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