Is CA-125 A Screening Test?

Last night just before going to bed, one of my girlfriends forwarded me a story about a young woman who had seen a number of doctors and had a series of tests for abdominal bloating. She was eventually diagnosed with cancer which had spread to her abdomen. The exact cell type and tumour origin was not stated in the email, however the email mentioned that the CA-125 test was done and was very positive. The author then proceeded to promote CA-125 as a screening test and encouraged readers to pass this on to other female readers. After reading this article I decided this blog post should be about the current recommendations regarding the CA-125 test and its role in screening the general population for Ovarian Cancer. The bottom line is that CA-125 is not recommended as a screening test for