What was your CA 27-29 when you were diagnosed

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LoriBach
LoriBach Member Posts: 130
edited August 2017 in Not Diagnosed With a Recurrence or Metastases but Concerned

What was your CA 27-29 when you were initially diagnosed with breast cancer? When the blood work was taken prior to surgery/chemo etc. it was 41. Today it came back at 40. I usually run between 25 - 33. I am curious where others started.

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  • stephilosphy00
    stephilosphy00 Member Posts: 386
    edited June 2017

    Mine was 6 at dx, it went up to 21 during chemo, it went back down to below 10 after surgery.

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  • BG46TN
    BG46TN Member Posts: 286
    edited June 2017

    What is the CA 27-29? I dont see that written anywhere in my lab work. What is it testing?

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  • pupmom
    pupmom Member Posts: 5,068
    edited June 2017

    Don't know what that is.

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  • SpecialK
    SpecialK Member Posts: 16,486
    edited June 2017

    lori - mine has fluctuated, was in the 30's at diagnosis and have wavered between high 20's and mid-60's at various points after treatment. My CA27/29 results are reliably influenced by inflammation though, and it has driven my number up when the issue has not been recurrence. I generally rest around the 30-35 mark as a normal.

    BG and pupmom - CA27/29 is a tumor marker serum test, not all oncologists use it.

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  • Jerseygirl927
    Jerseygirl927 Member Posts: 438
    edited June 2017

    is this blood test something like the cat 125? Do i have that correct? Is it reliable?

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  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited June 2017

    Yes, CA-125 is one cancer antigen test. No, cancer antigen tests are not reliable. That's why many docs refuse to do the tests. My doc will do it because I promised I understand you can only look at trends. And he will not order the CA 15-3. I'm waiting for my latest test results this week, but my CA 27-29 hangs around 23 since 10 weeks after treatment 2-1/2 years ago.


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  • LoriBach
    LoriBach Member Posts: 130
    edited June 2017

    I had to make the "same" promise about understanding the "reliability" of the test. The only time I question the number is when it is 39 or over. It only happened once before and that is because of a change in lab. It is a very sensitive test.

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  • pajim
    pajim Member Posts: 2,785
    edited June 2017

    Lori, they never tested my CA27-29 when I was an early stage patient. At the time of diagnosis of bone mets the CA27-29 was normal. And continued to be so for the next two years.

    The difference between 35 and 41 is [so far as I know] within the standard error of the test. Lots of things can affect the result. For instance if you ran up and down the stairs a bit just before they drew blood, it would likely be higher than if you didn't.

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  • dtad
    dtad Member Posts: 2,323
    edited June 2017

    Hi everyone. My doc at a major NYC university hospital put no validity into the test. Good luck to all...

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  • Lapadura
    Lapadura Member Posts: 1
    edited July 2017

    I was dx 2004 my ca2729 was 50

    Ot always stays around 34 38 now

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  • Lumpie
    Lumpie Member Posts: 1,650
    edited July 2017

    My onc refused to do these. She said they are not reliable. There are new tumor DNA blood tests on the market that are FDA approved but they don't seem to be widely used yet. These are sometimes referred to as "liquid biopsy" tests. They are still new and are not yet incorporated into "standard of care." I even contacted the lab that offers them to see if they would give me the names of doctors who use their tests but they wouldn't. If anyone's doctors have used these, I would be fascinated to hear about how they incorporated the results into your plans for care.

    Here's a web post on this topic. It's from 2015 so a bit dated but still interesting:

    http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases...


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  • Les123
    Les123 Member Posts: 29
    edited August 2017

    When I was originally diagnosed my tumor marker was 42. After my surgery one month later it drop down to 22. However, during my chemo treatment my tumor marker went up to 62. Four weeks following my chemo treatments it went down to 52. I just had my blood work done yesterday and hoping that my tumor marker continues to decline. My MO doesn't seem to be too concerned about it.

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  • cive
    cive Member Posts: 709
    edited August 2017

    CA27.29 is generally used to see the change in TMs, not the actual number.  And, they are generally used in women with mets or stage IV, to have some idea of the effectiveness of treatments rather than scanning every month.  For some women they are not that predictive, but for many they are but not the absolute number, just the change.  If for example they double, then the treatment may be losing effectiveness, small changes would be ignored.

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