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Anyone diagnosed with Gallbladder cancer?

Cancer | Last Active: Jul 14 4:32pm | Replies (70)
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@waflanders

Question any information using CA 19-9 to determine reoccurrence before tumor is large enough to be identified by CT scan.
With pancreatic cancer if their was elevated CA 19-9 prior to surgery then around 60% of the time an increasing CA 19-9 trend was identified before the tumor could be detected with CT scan.
History:
Gallbladder cancer found when it was removed 1.6 cm.
PET scan 20 days later showed tumor in liver section IVb.
Liver resection segment 4B, tumor 3.5 cm, margins clear.
Followed with 26 external beam radiation and 5FU chemo.
CA 19-9 continues to show downward trend and is approaching normal levels.
5 months after liver resection CT scan could not detect any tumor.
Current plan is to test CA 19-9 every 40 days and CT scan every 6 months. Frequency to be increased if CA 19-9 test establishes an increasing trend

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Replies to "Question any information using CA 19-9 to determine reoccurrence before tumor is large enough to be..."
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Sep 9, 2022

@waflanders, typically CA 19-9 is not used alone. Further investigation with imaging studies, like CT scans are needed to confirm the diagnosis or recurrence.

From American Cancer Society https://www.cancer.org/cancer/gallbladder-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/diagnosis.html
"People with gallbladder cancer may have high blood levels of the markers called CEA and CA 19-9. Usually the blood levels of these markers are high only when the cancer is in an advanced stage. These markers are not specific for gallbladder cancer – that is, other cancers or even some other health conditions also can make them go up.
These tests can sometimes be useful after a person is diagnosed with gallbladder cancer. If the levels of these markers are found to be high, they can be followed over time to help tell how well treatment is working."

Monitoring CA 19-9 is a less invasive test and can be the proverbial canary in the coal mine. How are you feeling about the current follow-up plan?

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maortiz1987 | @maortiz1987 | Jul 14 11:14am

Hello, my wife is going through a very similar case like yours. She had a 1.5 gallbladder cancer tumour and possibly a 1cm liver tumour (still waiting on an MRI result) in segment V. How are you doing?

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