blood test monitoring after treatment -
My friends with BC go for routine blood testing for years after treatment. What does the blood test monitor? Is there something in the testing that shows active cancer? I don't understand what the tests show. I am currently waiting on a treatment plan for my BC, but I'm wondering if it could have been caught earlier if those blood test had been available to all people rather than just people already diagnosed. When my friends told me they were going for their blood test I used to always say "I wish I could have that test -- wonder what it shows". Guess my wish was granted )-:
Comments
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Jessie, here's an article that talks about the blood test I have at every post-treatment oncology visit. As noted, there can be false positives. My doctor also said a single elevated test can be a fluke so they look to a trend at the followup appointment & would pursue scans at that time. I suspect the test isn't routinely given because too many false positives in those without symptoms or a suspicious mammogram would panic people unnecessarily with only a few getting a meaningful heads' up.
https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/conten...
Lyn
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Thanks Lyn -- that was an interesting article. I've had cysts in my ovaries for years --- will be curious how that affects my test before and after my treatment. Is that all they test for with those blood tests?
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Hi Jessie,
You may also find some more helpful info on the main Breastcancer.org site's page on Blood Marker Tests, which explains other markers that these types of tests look for.
We hope this helps!
--The Mods
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Interesting. I get NO blood tests after BC at Dana Farber
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I don't get blood tests done either.
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Alice --- that really is interesting since Dana Farber is supposed to be an excellent hospital. That makes me want to find out if the blood testing is really necessary because I do believe it's stress invoking.
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I only get my vitamin D level tested by my oncologist. No tumor markers--they're not very reliable tests for BC.
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I have had a Complete Blood Count, Complete Metabolic Panel, CA27/29 tumor markers, CEA tumor marker, and Vitamin D at every oncology visit and I am 8 years out from diagnosis. I am treated at the largest private oncology group in the country, and this is part of their protocol for all patients. It is very common not to do all of this blood testing, particularly if your primary care does it routinely. My tumor markers have occasionally climbed out of the normal range on the CA27/29 due to inflammation, and conversely there are stage IV patients for whom tumor marker blood tests do not show an increase even in the face of progression - the tests are not reliable for all patients and this is why many oncologists do not use them. This is why they are not done as part of any kind of preventive testing like screening mammograms to try to detect disease before symptoms.
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Is it possible the blood tests are monitoring liver (tamoxifen can affect liver function) or some other possible drug interaction? Or checking for biological menopause when your friends might change to AIs?
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I never had tumor marker tests. My MO didn’t believe in them because she said too many false positives. I’m sure the fact I was early stage 1b, Grade 1 IDC was another reason. My tumor was not aggressive and I had a low Oncotype score of 11. Small tumor as well. Micromet in SN but didn’t test other nodes because she said it wasn’t necessary. So basically all she ran blood tests for for is to see the effects of Tamoxifen which I took for 5 years.
Several ladies in my support group at church did have routine blood tests. One had the tumor marker test which unfortunately showed after several tests her BC had metastasized to her hip. From what I understand the numbers can and do elevate for other than metastasis thus running the test several times. This lady had the test rerun two weeks after the first one.
I put my faith, and my life for that matter, in my MO. She determined tests and treatments. So far, so good 7 years out last August.
Diane
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I'm almost 8 years out & I don't see any doctors for BC. So just the blood work my internist orders.Nothing specific to BC.
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Hope it's ok to jump into this thread. I am reliant on my GP for follow up blood work, which unfortunately with him, is not consistent. I saw him this past week for all of a minute (which is about all I usually get with him) simply to get my bloodwork script. While he's checking it off he starts talking to me about tumor markers etc, and I said no I don't get those done. Not until I got home with my script, did I notice all these extra tests that he just lumped in there, that were not asked for, and not part of my routine screening (compared with last year). 9 extra. I have not met with him to put forth any symptoms or asked for any additional tests. I usually see this guy a couple of times a year for a minute or two while he rewrites my prescriptions. That's it.
I have never, for example, been given a GAMMA GT test. I've read up on this one in particular and it seems rife with false positives and seems to be screening for stuff that I've not presented with. Of course now I'm terrified, and won't go get my blood work. Looks like he's testing me for gout too... I'm surprised there's not a pregnancy test on there. Last year I had a CBC, Lipid panel, glucose, lytes, AST/ALT and a couple of other things. I was told by the nurse who reviewed it with me, that it was excellent.
Is this routine for others? I'm considering going back with the script and asking him to re-do it.
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my oncologist has always done my bloodwork every three months the first time around 2012-2014. I'm now in active treatment and my bloodwork is once a month with zometo fusion. My primary follows my bloodwork by my onc so she doesn't repeat. I have tumor markers every three moths before scans but once a month since I may be having a flare. CBC and something else when I have infusions. Sorry for rambling, meds messing with my brain
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JoE777 --- I see you are in Texas --- are you using M.D. Anderson? I've often wondered if they do the blood work.
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My oncology group just orders a CBC every 6 months and I have that done the week prior to my visit. They do not order tumor markers.
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Letsgogolf --- I really think that I have your type of cancer. Will see my surgeon Friday -- I guess to discuss surgery. Anyway after my MRI they found 7.5 cm of IDCS coming off my tumor in a long line --- my tumor was called mammary carcinoma with lobular features. I wonder now if I can even have a lumpectomy. How have my mammograms missed IDCS for so many years. My ki-67 on the tumor was just around 6%. This is all so confusing. Did they find any IDCS with yours? If the MRI hadn't seen that large area of IDCS I wonder how things would have gone for me. I'm beginning to think we are lucky to have cancer because imaging seems very poor at detecting many tumors. We'll be highly monitored for years to come. Also why would your doctor only do a CBC -- I have CBC's yearly and the test never detected my cancer.
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Jessie, no , I use Unversity of Texas Oncology Consultants In conjunction with Memorial Hermann Health System. Some of UTs satellite centers are housed with MD Anderson. They all have hospitals in the Medical center downtown but I'm able to receive all my visits, treatments and radiation in house in Southeast Houston 7 minutes from my house. Seamless and completely integrated, no hassle. I'm not sure how MD ANDERSON works. My sister in law has been a patient for 19 years there but she has a rare form of cancer that was only treated there and Mayo for years. I think illuminae, I apologize for misspelling her name, uses MDA.
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JoE77 --- I see you live in Pearland --- I used to live in the Clear Lake area when I was in high school. Lived in El Lago -- graduated from Clear Creek High when it was the only high school in the area. We moved there when the space center first opened. I still have a friend in League City that went through breast cancer recently --- she used the M.D. satellite office in her area. Small world.
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Jessie, moved here in 2014 when we retired. It seems many of the retirees in our subdivision worked at NASA. My son lived here and it put me close to treatment centers. Sorry about your friend. Hope is going well for her.
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