A novel method for clinical diagnosis of endometriosis - CA-125 dynamic test

Plasma CA-125 levels were measured during menstrual period (M) and non-menstrual period (N) in 23 cases of the endometriosis patients. All of the patients had neither indurations nor tumor regions by pelvic examinations and MRI methods. Laparoscopic examinations were performed in all of the subjects after the blood samplings and precise diagnosis for the endometriosis was evaluated by the rAFS staging. And the increasing ratio of M toward N (%M/N) was compared to the r-AFS scoring. The same procedures were done in 8 cases of the infertility patients without endometriosis; as controls. %M/N in first and second stage of the r-AFS were significantly higher than those in the control (p<0.01). There were significant correlations between %M/N and r-AFS scores (r=0.54, r=0.61, respectively, p<0.05). It was suggested that the clinical diagnosis of endometriosis could be made using the CA-125 dynamic test.