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Is CA 19-9 a lagging indicator? How is it used?
Pancreatic Cancer | Last Active: Jan 4 12:51pm | Replies (15)Comment receiving replies
When I was diagnosed in July 2023 my CA19-9 was 9700. I did 3 months of GA chemo before my surgery in January 2024. At that time my CA19-9 was 150. My pathology report was clear. Two months after the surgery it was 1820. I did 3 more months of GA chemo and it was 35. I have did Pet CT scans every 3 months since the surgery and they have always been clear. My oncologist stopped my chemo and told me to do scans every three months, and check my CA19-9 monthly. That was in October 2024. My CA19-9 has went from 35 to 371 in 3 months. My oncologist wants me to start chemo again even though my scan in November was clear. I am really confused about the numbers. I don’t really want to go back on chemo.
Replies to "When I was diagnosed in July 2023 my CA19-9 was 9700. I did 3 months of..."
My husband has done 9 months of Gem-Abraxane and our oncologist is not stopping. His PET scans had been clear for 9 months (or since surgery over a year ago - depending on which dcotor or radiologist we listen to) but like @juneday said, the cancer cells could be 'hiding'. Chemo is depressing but if it keeps the cancer under control, my husband and I will stick to the course our oncologist has charted.
Go back on the chemo. Been there. Done that & was not wanting to go back on chemo. You may be able to stop it again when the numbers trend within normal limits again. I have been back on since May and in October finally got to 29.4; had pneumonia; shot up to 93.9 & 105.2 & just now on Jan 2. started to trend down to 82.4! Hoping that will continue so I can look forward to another time when I can stop for a while 🙂
My radiation oncologist told me that they can’t see the cancer unless there’s 50,000 thousand in one place
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Please double check this with your oncologist but my understanding in layman’s terms is that cancer cells hide and are not always visible in scans. The elevated markers indicate their existence. So the recommendation to resume chemo is to prevent them from rising further.
All the best to you.