ca-125

[lena h]

Do any of you know what are normal levels for a ca-125?

[brthbbs]

Less than 35 is considered normal.  Remember that an elevated CA 125 does not necessarily mean cancer, could just mean that something inside is unhappy.

[toothfairyp]

From personal EXPERIENCE, ca125 is an unreliable test for premenopausal women. Mine went from 84 to 38.5, a pelvic ultrasound is a good test to go hand in hand with ca125. Keep us posted.

[LitDoc]

According to the latest information, abnormal CA-125 levels are now considered to be above 65. As many others on this site will say, even elevated CA-125 levels do not necessarily mean OVCA, especially in pre-menopausal women.
Annette

[suzsen]

Actually, I think that elevated count being over 65 was based on one study of post-menopausal women,  but I could be wrong.

I have always heard that a normal CA125 is under 35.  However, my CA125 report in April had a note that Quest Diagnostics, the people who drew and analyzed my blood, have switched from the Abbot CA125 assay with a normal range of 0 - 35, to the DCP CA125 assay, with a normal range of 0 - 20.

Regardless, CA125 shows up in the "normal" range for up to 50% of Stage 1 & 2 cancers, and even misses 20% of stage 3 & 4 cancers.  Most of the time when the CA125 is high it is a FALSE positive, because cysts, endo and other things can raise the CA125 level.  I think there is a woman here who had a CA125 of 700 and had a benign cyst.

I wish it were more reliable for screening; I have a CA125 of 4 and I wish I found that more comforting!  It's really only a good test for tracking chemo/surgery effectiveness in women who are already diagnosed with ovca.

[lena h]

Thanks for the advice. I will pass it along to my mom and maybe that will help some of her fears.