CA 19-9 and pancreatic cancer: What do the numbers mean?

Do Mayo Clinic oncologists use this new chemo treatment? Our doc has not mentioned it as an option when Fox and Gem stop working......

@buckslayer I can't address whether Mayo uses Onivyde. My wife's treatments have been at Johns Hopkins and locally at Advent Health Cancer Center in Central Florida. Onivyde was actually first approved in 2015 and is the only chemo agent which is specifically approved for pancreatic cancer. All of the other agents, 5fu, leucovorin, irinotican, oxalyplaten, cisplaten, gemcitibine, abraxane etc are all generic gastro chemos and have been available for decades. We only learned about Onivyde when I insisted that my wife be put back onto folfirinox because the GAC and GA treatments had failed but her original folfirinox treatments had actually gotten her CA19-9 below 30 and the primary tumor was necrotic when they opened her up. After 2 onivyde treatments my wife's CA19-9 was down by 59% and we're hopeful that we see additional significant reductions and that the previously identified tumor has stabilized or shrunk by the next scan. Good luck to you and hopefully your doctor has other options or trials available.

Thank you for this reply, I appreciate it! My husband is currently on a maintenance-type dose of single agent gemcitabine and it seems to be holding things in check for now but I will definitely be asking his oncologist about Onivyde when we see him next week in Rochester. CA 19-9 remains high (around 5000) but we are nearly three years out from his Whipple surgery and still glad to be here - hoping for many more years. Take care!

PS, any issues with insurance covering this drug treatment?

PS, any issues with insurance covering this drug treatment?

To LML -your statement "feeling of threat" is profound, I was not able to phrase it as that. And denial crops up also - reverts to childhood thought process for me; if not recognized it may go away. My spirituality is very sincere with daily thoughts of that I am here. Six years now and fighting for more life and daily prayers of thanksgiving.. We have to keep the LIFE a very superior element of our thinking. Your last sentence "Cancer --- and continuing to the end of your paragraph", I recall when the Dr. spoke the word cancer - can only describe my brain as expanding and retracting. I asked my son who was standing near me if he was okay with this - he said yes; and everything ran its course since then. Please try to move past what we feel is our life sentence - I try to live in the thoughts of Brother Lawrence, "The Practice of the Presence of God". Wishing you peace and courage. P.

My husband started out at 24,000!!!! He is now down to 64.

Tail pancreatic cancer.
I started with a CA 19-9 of 690 and stage 3. One month later, it was 505, the next 190 and the last, two weeks later after my 5th of 6 chemo (alternate weeks ), 93.

It is my understanding that this tumor marker shows ALL tumors, so part of the number may even be non cancerous tumors.

I'm now being scheduled for a CT scan, and another test for 6 weeks of 5 days a week radiation.

When the CT comes back, I'm hopeful that this scourge of my bodies own making, will show totally or almost totally dead, as I demanded in my thoughts and dreams.

My doctor, her PAs, all the staff and the facilities at Jupiter Medical Center's Anderson Cancer Center, are the best I could hope for.

The decline of your CA 19-9 numbers sound encouraging, @jk2.

Did you have surgery as well as chemo? How are you doing on the chemo? Managing side effects okay?

Yes he has had scans that definitely show the tumor is gone. His last PET Scan showed his abdominal area is free of cancer. Unfortunately it has metastasized to his lungs. It was caught early and the nodules are very small.