tumor markers

"Endometriosis, ovarian cysts, first-trimester pregnancy, benign breast disease, and kidney and liver disease are just some of the noncancerous conditions that can raise your CA 27.29 level."

I found this in a footnote of the article on CA 27.29 on Dr. Susan Love's website http://www.dslrf.org/breastcancer/content.asp

My mo in Texas measured CA 27.29 and CA 15-3 and while they came down at first (from 188 to about 50), they bounced around after that from 40 to 75 without any progression showing on scans. Some people never have elevated tumor markers, while others seem to show progression sooner than it shows up on scans.

I recently moved to New York, and my new mo doesn't think tumor markers are useful. He also feels that once mets are diagnosed, CT scans are better for following them than PET/CT. I know that this is the recommended method, but my mets were not diagnosed until they lit up on a PET/CT. I'd like to hear how others are monitored and what seems to give the best indication of progression.

I have my markers done every 6 weeks. They went down (60s to 20s) within the first four months of treatment and then to the teens after a ooph. I don't yet know if they will indicate progression accurately as I thankfully haven't had any yet. The first year I alternated btw PETs and bone scans every three months but now am just doing a PET about every 8 months.

My tumor markers jump around a lot. They go from 800 to 400 to 1000 within a month. My onc does not use them as a tool for me. I do have ureter stents that may affect them since I have a constant uti. My scans are clear.

My markers haven't moved in almost ten years so I told my doc at the last visit to quit doing them. Monitoring is done if I complain of a pain or other symptom and its usually CT and bone scan. So far so good.

my markers were stable and below normal for 10 and half years. when they doubled to 66...85...110.Pet scan found spinal met. marker seemed accurate for me. after rads and starting letrozole and monthly zometa the markers dropped to 40. in june, the marker jumped to 70; had pet/ct scan and it was clear. however, since june my markers have jumped to 157 and i don't know what they were last month. (i get markers every month with zometa)

now, here is the other part of this story. i had a bacterial infection in the bottom of my foot for 9 months; it really festered and i ended up in the hospital with two surgeries on my foot and IV antibiodics. and then two more weeks of oral antibiodics. this is when the marker jumped...last july, august and sept.... i asked my doc about it..she said "we don't know for sure how infections...etc. can affect markers...but very possible" i will be interested to see if the markers come back down...as my foot is now fairly healed up... i will have a Pet/ct scan either dec or jan. i have kinda gotten away from watching blood work; i pretty much go by how i am feeling.

you just never know i guess. my onc won't change treatment unless she sees reason to because of a scan. that is about it. however, when i was initially diagnosed with spine met; it was because of elevated ca27.29 go figure.

My onc uses the CA 15-3 test. It seems to be very accurate for me. it starts rising before any difference can be seen on a Pet or a CAT Scan. About 4 or 5 months ago I had a 2000 tumor marker. That is the highest it had ever been, Then I began to take Halaven as my chemo. After the first month it came down about 700 points, I was astounded (think onc was too lol) as I have never had such a huge and fast drop on any chemo before. Since tumor marker test has always been accurate for me I continue to believe that when it is rising I will see progression soon, and that does always seem to be the case. If it is remaining pretty much the same, then I will probably see that it is stable. Anyway, my onc does a tumor marker blood test once a month. Then he does a Pet Scan every four or five months. Hope that helps to answer your question. if you have any additional questions please feel free to PM me.

My tumor markers are not reliable at all. My onc uses CT scan and my mention of symptoms.

Be well

Nel

Similar to SuperFoob above, initially my ca.27.29 was over 1100. After 10 mos. on letrozole they went down to 190. Now they vary between just below 200 to about 250. I was getting tumor markers every month and CT (dye contrast) scans every 6 months. Since the ca.29 have been stable right around 200, my MO has changed the blood work to every other month and CT scans to every year. Stable TMs aren't exactly the same thing every time, they just varying around a value similar to an E to the x growth curve that becomes asymptotic.

Thanks give. Although i did understand the last line clearly but seems that TM numbers can go up slightly over time.

Shetland:  If you were to plot your tumor markers on graph paper you would get a curve that is fairly steep at first and would then become almost a flat line assuming you are responding to treatment.  E is the natural log which is approximately equivalent to 2.78. 

E to the x is that number (2.78.....) raised to the power of x and describes curves , similar to half lives of drugs, carbon 14 dating, etc..