The Effect of Delayed Chemotherapy on the Decrease of CA125 in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer During Coronavirus Disease Pandemic in 2020

Abstract

Objective

To investigate whether patients with epithelial ovarian cancer were affected by delayed chemotherapy during the coronavirus disease pandemic in 2020.

Materials and Methods

A delay of more than 21 days in the planned chemotherapy was defined as “delayed chemotherapy.” Forty-five patients with epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, and peritoneal cancer were delayed between January 1 and March 30, 2020 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University. Thirty-two cases were enrolled in this study. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy was used in 8 cases; palliative chemotherapy was used in 5 cases; and maintenance chemotherapy was used in 19 cases. Data included age, pathological type, surgical pathological stage, chemotherapy time and CA125 levels were collected. The half-life of CA125 and the decrease in CA125 levels before and after delayed chemotherapy were calculated.

Results

No patient got coronavirus disease. Compared with patients of ovarian cancer, fallopian tube epithelial cancer and peritoneal epithelial cancer in the same periods in 2019, the half-life of CA125 in neoadjuvant chemotherapy group and recurrence chemotherapy group were more than 20 days, but there was no significant difference. Only when the delayed chemotherapy took place before CA125 turned negative, accompanied by an interval of more than 60 days, the CA125 half-life and the decreased range of CA125 were totally affected.

Conclusion

There was no evidence to support that once chemotherapy was delayed it would influence the decrease of CA125, but whether it would affect the long-term effects such as recurrence and five-year survival rate remains to be further followed up.

Keywords:

• epithelial ovarian cancer
• CA125
• delayed chemotherapy
• half-life

Highlights

• Planned chemotherapy for epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, and peritoneal cancer was delayed by 60 days during coronavirus disease pandemic in 2020.

• Although the half-life of CA125 tended to be higher in those with delayed chemotherapy, the difference was not significant.

• One delay in chemotherapy may not influence the decrease in CA125 levels in epithelial ovarian cancer patients.

Research Involving Human Participants

All procedures performed in our studies involving human participants have been approved by the ethics committee of First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University and have therefore been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

Disclosure

The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.