Purpose: To explore the clinical value of the level of human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) in serum in the diagnosis, prediction of postoperative recurrence and prognosis of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC).
Methods: A total of 103 EOC patients and 121 individuals with benign ovarian lesions were selected. All of them were admitted to our hospital between January 2013 and January 2014 as group A (EOC, n=103) and group B (benign ovarian lesions, n=121), respectively. Additionally, 106 serum samples collected from healthy people who underwent physical examination were selected as group C. The serum levels of HE4 were assessed one day before and one day after the operation to reveal differences among the three groups. In addition, we analyzed the clinical value of HE4 in the diagnosis, prediction of recurrence and progression-free survival (PFS) of EOC patients.
Results: In group A, the level of HE4 was significantly higher than in groups B and C (p<0.05), while comparison between the group B and C revealed no statistically significant difference (p>0.05). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of HE4 in the diagnosis of EOC were 82.52, 84.46, 83.47 and 92.34%, respectively. In the prediction of recurrence of EOC, the sensitivity and specificity of HE4 alone were 87.57 and 92.45%, respectively, while the sensitivity and specificity of HE4 combined with CA-125 were 93.45 and 94.24%, respectively. In addition, the level of HE4 showed a significant negative effect on PFS (p<0.05).
Conclusions: Detection of HE4 is conducive to the diagnosis and prediction of recurrence of EOC, and HE4 in high concentration suggests poor prognosis.