Serum tumour markers in gynaecological cancers

Serum tumour markers have had a role in screening, diagnosis and monitoring of some gynaecological cancers. Women with suspected ovarian malignancies have as routine a CA125 serum test, and in conjunction with scans, the risk of malignancy can be calculated. Equally, this CA125, if elevated pre-operatively can be used to predict chemotherapeutic responses, and even disease relapse prior to any symptoms or clinical findings. Other useful markers in ovarian cancer are betaHCG and AFP produced by germ cell tumours. betaHCG is also of extreme importance in both the diagnosis and management of choriocarcinomas. The level of betaHCG determines the need, and with other indicators, the type of chemotherapeutic intervention. Other serum markers are known in cervical cancer, and possibly endometrial and vulval cancer-but their clinical utility is very limited. Novel markers may help in managing patients, and in the future permit screening for certain diseases.