[Prognostic value of CA125 half-life and early normalization during chemotherapy in advanced ovarian tumors: results of a multicentric French study].

This multicentric study was performed in 494 patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer in order to assess the predictive and prognostic value of CA125 half-life and CA125 time to normalization during induction chemotherapy in these patients. For 494 stage IIC-IV patients, 397 relapsed (80.4 %) and 382 died (77.3 %) from cancer during follow time (median = 34 months ; range : 3-215 months). In the population of patients with surgical second look (n = 194), CA125 half-life and normalization before the third cycle were significantly related to pathological complete response by univariate (p < 0,0001) and multivariate (p respectively equal to 0,01 and 0.042) studies. CA 125 half-life and time needed for CA125 normalization had an univariate prognostic value for overall survival (OS) (p < 0.0001 for both). In Cox models, CA 125 half-life (p < 0.0001), residual tumour (p = 0.001), CA125 normalization before the third cycle (p = 0.014) and age (p = 0.032) were independent prognostic factors for OS. Conclusion : Among well-established prognostic factors in ovarian cancers, CA 125 half-life and CA125 time to normalization were independent prognostic factors for both achievement of pathological complete response and survival.