Pelvic mass and elevated ca 125

[Jazzy06]

Is it normal for the surgeon to not confirm if a pelvic mass is cancerous or not? My sister goes in a for a hysterectomy tomorrow due to a large 18cm ovarian/pelvic mass, and raised ca 125 level of 105. She is perimenopausal age 47.

They said they won't know if its cancerous until it is tested. I really thought they would know this from a ct scan. She had an internal scan 2 years ago and there was no mass then. She did/does have widespread endo diagnosed 6 years ago during lap, and a small fibroid.

To say I'm sick with worry is an under statement.

They just said they don't know what it is but it needs to come out. This all moved very fast. The nurse/Co ordinator was very sympathetic and gave her the details of cancer support...but it hasn't even been confirmed as cancer....does she know something we don't?

Is there anyone here who was in a smiling situation and the result was benign?

I believe in many cases they cannot confirm for certain until a sample is tested. They will likely send a sample from the mass to be tested, either during surgery or after. If they did a biopsy to take a sample beforehand then it would be an extra delay before the main surgery and also an extra invasive event iyswim.

Hope all goes really well with surgery and any follow up treatment.

Yes. Sounds like it needs removing either way. So better to remove and test/confirm rather than waste time and mean more procedures by testing and then removing. Hopefully they have got it early.

I had slightly raised CA125 and ultrasound which was described as "strongly suggestive of endometrial carcinoma". Then had a series of 3 hysteroscopies where a biopsy was taken but each one was not conclusive. Had Mri after this. The consultant recommended a full hysterectomy as the suspicion was that it was cancer but not definite. I had the hysterectomy and the histology came back shortly afterwards to say mass was a fibroid and not cancer thankfully.

I think sometimes they just don't know for certain until they it out and test it.

I was very glad to have had the hysterectomy and get the results. I was back at work three weeks after the op and had no pain afterwards.

The doctors and all the staff at my local NHS hospital in West Yorkshire were brilliant.

@minipie @HaveYouHeardOfARoadAtlas

Thank you, I do agree it was best to just go straight to the full hysterectomy, the original plan was a lap & biopsy but that idea was scrapped as the mass needed to cone out regardless. Thanks for your well wishes.

@Patcherdog

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. This is reassuring that sometimes they really just don't know...its terrifying. I'm glad yours turned out OK. Iv been worried sick and it's hard to know what to make of it all. Thank you.

My friend was told she had likely cancer after a scan of her womb and ovaries showed a mass However once they did biopsy a week later it was large fibroid .
Hope all turns out ok best thing is to get it all removed though

I had a large mass, had scans, Ct etc CA was normal. Dr decided it all had to come out anyway so had a hysterectomy and the mass was sent fir testing. Mine was cancerous but it was fully contained in the mass so as they'd took it out intact I needed no follow ups or anything.

It needs to come out so the sooner they do it the quicker you will know.

I used to work in this field. It cannot be definitely diagnosed without histology (tissue) or cytology (fluid) samples to confirm. CT and PET scans can be a high indicator.