I had a CA-125 test due to finding a cyst. What is a CA-125 test specifically?
CA-125 is a test developed to detect cancer. Antibodies were made to cancer cells and one of them, OC-125 turned out to often be positive in many cases of ovarian cancer. It is often called Ca-125 by the antigen name and is used in postmenopausal women as a cancer screen and in premenopausal women and postmenopausal women as a baseline prior to surgery for an ovarian cyst or mass in case it turns out to be a cancer. It is not positive in all cases of ovarian cancer and there are many other benign conditions that can cause an elevation. So many conditions, in fact, that it shouldn’t be used as a cancer screen in premenopausal women. There are too many false positives that would create unnecessary surgery and concern when used premenopausally as a screen. After a women has gone through menopause, a positive test as a screen (no symptoms or known masses) turns out to be cancer only one in ten times or less.
