Comparison of serum CA-125 and lipid-associated sialic acid (LASA-P) in monitoring patients with invasive ovarian adenocarcinoma.

Twenty-seven patients with frankly invasive nonmucinous invasive adenocarcinoma of the ovary were monitored using a serial CA-125 and lipid-associated sialic acid (LASA-P) levels prior to cytoreductive surgery, during chemotherapy, before second-look surgery or disease progression, and during subsequent follow-up. All levels were measured using previously described techniques. Serum LASA-P levels correlated well with CA-125 levels during all phases of treatment with no significant difference in predictive value of elevated or normal levels. LASA-P levels, thus, offer another, possibly less expensive, method of monitoring patients with invasive ovarian adenocarcinoma during therapy and in predicting the likelihood of a positive second-look laparotomy.