A Survey on the Role of Cancer Antigen 125 (CA125), Human Epididymis Protein 4 (HE4), Risk of Ovarian Malignancy Algorithm (ROMA), and Risk of Malignancy Index (RMI) in Pelvic Mass

Context: Pelvic masses are a prevalent cause for referral to gynecologic oncology departments to evaluate the possibility of benign or malignant conditions. Pelvic mass often was found in pelvic examinations among females with ovarian. Tumor markers are advantageous biomarker in tumor diagnosis. Evidence Acquisition: We performed a computerized search in Medline/PubMed databases and Google Scholar with key words: “Cancer antigen 125 (CA125), Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4), risk of ovarian malignancy algorithm (ROMA), Risk of malignancy index (RMI), and Pelvic mass”. The usage of tumor marker CA125 alone is associated with serious limitations like low sensitivity for early or stage I disease and lack of specificity especially in pre-menopausal women. Serum HE4 is a good biomarker for discriminating ovarian cancer from benign pelvic disease, but could be affected by several factors including pregnancy, age, and smoking. ROMA has a high sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive value to predict the presence of ovarian cancer in women with a pelvic mass. RMI could differentiate between benign and malignant pelvic masses, but RMI expression was higher in women with 55 years or more. According to the results of this study, combination of these biomarkers or at least 2 or 3 biomarkers are suggested for early stage diagnosis of pelvic mass with high sensitivity and specificity.