Amylase activity and fast-migrating amylase isoenzymes in serum and cyst fluid from patients with ovarian neoplasms.

160 patients with various ovarian tumors were studied to establish whether total amylase activity and the occurrence of fast migrating amylase isoenzymes in serum could serve as indicators of ovarian cancer. It was found that patients with benign and malignant ovarian tumors could not be classified by means of total amylase activity. Electrophoretic separation of the amylases revealed fast-migrating forms in serum from 10 of 47 patients with malignant ovarian neoplasms; 8 of these 10, and altogether 19 of the 47 patients had a serous cystadenocarcinoma. Two of the 109 patients with benign ovarian tumors also showed the pattern with fast-migrating amylases; both of them had a serous cystadenoma. Four patients with borderline tumors showed normal amylase patterns. Tumor origin of these fast-migrating amylase forms in serum was substantiated by 1) amylase reactive cells detectable in tumor tissue, and 2) surgical removal of tumor followed by complete disappearance of the fast-migrating amylase forms in serum. Normal serum amylase patterns do not exclude the presence of a malignant ovarian tumor, but occurrence of these abnormal amylase forms in serum may indicate that an ovarian tumor is a cystadenocarcinoma.