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CA-125 Results Went Up: Should I be concerned?

Gynecologic Cancers | Last Active: Jun 9 2:39am | Replies (51)
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@carole2022

My daughter has Stage 4 ovarian cancer. Her cancer antigens were very high, then started to go down quite a bit (but still high), now going up again. She is on her second round of chemo. How significant is this?

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Replies to "My daughter has Stage 4 ovarian cancer. Her cancer antigens were very high, then started to..."
Helen, Volunteer Mentor | @naturegirl5 | Jul 11, 2022

@carole2022. Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. We are an online support group but I'd like to note that no one here is a medical professional. For this reason I cannot provide you with information on why her cancer antigens are changing.

It's wonderful that you came to Mayo Clinic Connect to support your daughter.

Here is some information from Mayo Clinic about the CA125 test and ovarian cancer.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/ca-125-test/about/pac-20393295
Is she working with an oncologist for her chemotherapy? What do they say about these changes in her cancer antigens?

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carole2022 | @carole2022 | Jul 11, 2022

Thanks for replying, Helen. Basically, I believe her oncologist said it wasn't the be all and end all (my words).
She will be having another scan tomorrow. She has Clear Cell carcinoma and the tumor was a little larger with the first round. Hoping the 2nd round has helped, but was somewhat alarmed when the CA125 test levels started to rise again.

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Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Jul 30, 2022

Hi Carole, I'd like to add my welcome. Clearly you are worried about your daughter. Your question about rising CA 125 levels is a common one. For this reason, I moved your question to this existing discussion so you can connect with others with ovarian cancer like @odette @starko @stparker54 @heather2020 and others
- CA-125 Results Went Up: Should I be concerned? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ca-125-results-rose/

From Mayo Clinic:
"Rising CA 125 levels MAY indicate that ovarian cancer has come back after treatment. Regular monitoring of CA 125 has NOT been shown to improve outcomes for those with ovarian cancer and may lead to additional and unnecessary rounds of chemotherapy or other treatments."

As your daughter's oncologist said, it can be an indicator, but cannot be relied on alone. Further testing is necessary to confirm what is going on.

You may wish to also review and join others talking about ovarian clear cell carcinoma in this discussion:
- Rare cancer: ovarian clear cell carcinoma https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/rare-cancer/

How did the second and third chemo rounds go? How are you doing?

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