[Clinical evaluation of serum CA-50 and CA 19-9 in gynecological tumors].

We conducted a study to evaluate cancer associated antigen CA-50 and CA 19-9 as tumor markers of gynecological malignancies. The positive rates of CA-50 and CA 19-9 for ovarian cancer were 35.5% and 48.8%, respectively, and thus were not very high. In terms of histological typing, relatively high positive rates were noted in mucinous type-42.9% for CA-50 and 71.4% for CA 19-9. Both antigens showed high false positive rates for benign ovarian tumors, especially for dermoid cyst, but produced few false positive cases of endometrial cyst. For cervical cancer and endometrial cancer, these antigens were positive at low rate. In conclusion, the present evaluation indicated that both CA-50 and CA 19-9 do not necessarily suffice as screening markers for gynecological malignancies; that they could potentially be of help for diagnosis of ovarian cancer of mucinous type; and that their false positive rates for endometrial cyst were very low.