← Return to CA 27-29 numbers rising: Does anyone else have an issue like this?

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@maryc1954

My ca 27.29 are elevated to 40. I was diagnosed with stage 1, grade 3 breast cancer in Sept 2019. Had lumpectomy with no lymph node involvement. had radiation treatments. my tumor markers bounce from 40 down to low 30"s. the cancer center that my oncologist is affiliated with does this blood draw every six months. I am currently taking tamoxifin. Now she wants me to have CT of C/A/P with contrast and a bone scan. My surgical oncologist is affiliated with Rutgers Cancer Institute and has advised me that they don't even perform this test for a patient such as myself as I did not have metastatic breast cancer and the test are not reliable and causes undo stress. I was unable to continue with Arimidex or Aromosin as I had terrible bone pain along with foot paid and hand pain. I also have arthritis and had my knee scoped in June. I really don't want to put unnecessary stress on my kidneys from the contrast of the test.

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Replies to "My ca 27.29 are elevated to 40. I was diagnosed with stage 1, grade 3 breast..."

If you read back to @colleenyoung comment a while back she talks about trends in these numbers. This is a very good point. Since they have been running these numbers every 6 months, you should know the trend, has it stayed steadily low and suddenly jumped? Or has it been bouncing around or has it been steadily climbing? Maybe using this information you can get a better idea of wether or not you want to get a scan. This is really just one of many tools that doctors use to make sure it can’t come back undetected.

Hi Mary, I add my welcome. Did you decide to get the CT scans of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis? Usually they are done to evaluate for metastatic disease. Did you ask your oncologist if she suspects that the cancer has spread? Or why she feels the scans are necessary? I can certainly understand you're not wanting to get tests unnecessarily. Why is a good question to ask.