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Does a change in CA19-9 indicate change in tumor?
Pancreatic Cancer | Last Active: 2 days ago | Replies (41)Comment receiving replies
If a couple doctors had gotten obsessed with my CA19-9 values, I might be cancer-free now instead of stage-IV with a feeding tube.
You are correct that it must be accompanied by other supporting data. Elevations or rising trends should be investigated promptly and seriously.
Although there are many benign causes, PDAC (initial diagnosis, progression, metastasis) is among the worst possible causes, and thus deserves to be ruled out first.
My multi-year set of biweekly CA19-9 data has been a pretty reliable indicator/predictor of chemo dose changes/effectiveness and disease progression -- cheaper and earlier than ctDNA and imaging (which later confirmed what CA19-9 had been "suggesting" all along).
Replies to "If a couple doctors had gotten obsessed with my CA19-9 values, I might be cancer-free now..."
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Yes, agreed. With sine mutations CA19-9 is a very good indicator of cancer spread. I have ATM mutation and my drs agreed it’s a very good indicator for me. It can fluctuate with inflammation or decrease of chemo levels in your system. I’m proud to say I’m obsessed with my ca19-9 and it’s why my oncologists continually remark “well we’ve caught it (the spread) very early”. It’s a balancing act not to be full of anxiety when those numbers go up, but it also can be one of the quickest and cheapest tools you can use in your arsenal to fight this disease. My suggestion is to fill your time with stuff you enjoy in order to mitigate that anxiety when those numbers go up, and please press your drs to get the imaging that might verify the rise in CA19-9.