[Purpose] To investigate the relationship of preoperative serous CA125 with clinicopathological features and prognosis in patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma.[Methods] The relationship of preoperative serous CA125 with histologic type,grade,FIGO stage,ascites and survival in 279 cases with epithelial ovarian carcinoma were analyzed retrospectively.[Results] The median CA125 value for all 279 patients was 339.2 U/ml(range 3.6~20 220.0U/ml).Preoperative serous CA125 in serous carcinoma was significantly higher than that in non-serous carcinoma(P0.05).For non-serous carcinoma with different histologic types,preoperative serous CA125 in mucinous /clear cell carcinoma was significantly lower than that in serous carcinoma(P0.01),and no significant difference was found between other types of non-serous carcinoma.Preoperative serous CA125 in early stage(stage Ⅰ) patient was significantly lower than that in advanced stage(stage Ⅱ~Ⅳ) patient(P=0.000).For non-mucinous/clear cell carcinoma patient,lower serous CA125 was usually associated with early disease and fairly good prognosis.As compared,higher serous CA125 was usually connected with advanced diseases,among which those with highest CA125 level displayed better survival than those with intermediate CA125 level.[Conclusion] Preoperative serous CA125 might reflect the tumor load for serous and other non-mucinous/clear cell carcinoma in epithelial ovarian carcinoma.