SERUM CA-125 VERSUS ULTRASOUND EXAMINATION IN DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN BENIGN AND MALIGNANT OVARIAN MASSES

Objective: To differentiate between benign and malignant ovarian masses by using serum CA125 versusultrasound examination.Methodology: This descriptive study was conducted at Department of Obstetrics and Gyneecology,Hayatabad Medical Complex from 1st January 2010 to 31st December 2010. Women fulfilling inclusioncriteria were admitted. They underwent transabdominal gray-scale ultrasound examinations by anexperienced examiner before surgery. Pattern recognition was used to classify a mass as benign ormalignant. These women also had blood withdrawn preoperatively for measurement of serum CA-125 withcut off value of 35 IU as normal. Results from both radiological finding and serum CA125 were thencompared with histopathological findings which was used as gold standard.Results: Pattern recognition by ultrasound correctly classified 69.64% of the tumors as benign ormalignant. Serum CA-125 correctly classified at best 74.14% of the masses. Combining both parametersthe diagnostic accuracy increased to 86.75% with sensitivity 80.36%, specificity 100%, positive predictivevalue 100% and negative predictive value of 71.05%.Conclusion: Pattern recognition alone was inferior to serum CA-125. Combining both parameters fordifferentiating between benign and malignant ovarian masses further increased the diagnostic accuracy.