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

Breast Cancer | Last Active: Aug 16 10:03am | Replies (176)
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@eku

At the SABCS (San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium), there were presentations on using circulating tumor cells to detect recurrence/detection. In one study, they found CTCs 7 months before any indication on the scans. You can start asking about it to your oncologists to create awareness. Then again there's the issue of whether the insurance will cover it.

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Replies to "At the SABCS (San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium), there were presentations on using circulating tumor cells..."
polianad22 | @polianad22 | Dec 10, 2022

Glad to hear that.

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mom23boys | @mom23boys | Dec 10, 2022

Hi eku. As a stage 4 BC patient I receive both the CA15-3 and CA27-29 tumor marker tests monthly. Many of us stage 4 get them regularly but it's been found they are not necessarily reliable. I have one friend in australia who is stage 4 7+ years with metastasis throughout her body and her CA27-29 sits at 19, perfectly normal. Others in our group have had good response to treatment and are "stable" yet their tumor markers do not reflect that. We count on our scans to signal progression or stability, not the tumor marker tests. Now, they do watch for jumps in numbers as sometimes that will trigger a CT scan to be done earlier (rather than the normal every 3 months or so). I think that's where they are right now in that they just aren't reliable enough.
Peggie

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