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Anyone on Gemcitabine with Abraxane? How long? Effective?
Pancreatic Cancer | Last Active: 5 days ago | Replies (171)Comment receiving replies
Well my friend's oncologist changed him to the Gemzar/abraxane combo after he received the all clear from the infectious doc regarding the mssa infection he had gotten as a result of the port being put in.. obviously the port was removed, on home IV antibiotics all last week, and got all clear on Monday...so yesterday he got his first treatment with the new combo and I gotta say he tolerated it a whole lot better..
One thing I am concerned about is his ca19 reading has gone up another 1000 in the past month... I get part of that is probably due to his only having the one treatment of chemo before the infection kicked up...Aug 31 it was 32040 yesterday it was 33080..should I be that concerned ?
Replies to "Well my friend's oncologist changed him to the Gemzar/abraxane combo after he received the all clear..."
@mommacandy, I think you'll appreciate these related discussions:
- Anyone on Gemcitabine with Abraxane? How long? Effective?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/gemcitabine-and-abraxane/
- Changing chemo regimen after 4 cycles of Folfirinox?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/changing-chemo-regimen-after-4-cycles-of-folfirinox/
Regarding wild fluctuations in CA-19, see these discussions:
- Pancreatic cancer and CA19-9
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/pancreatic-cancer-and-ca19-9/
- CEA and CA19-9 Results as Predictors of Treatment Outcome
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/cea-and-ca19-9-results-as-predictors-of-treatment-outcome/
- CA-19 has elevated even more
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ca-19-has-elevated-even-more/
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I'm glad he's healed up and getting a more tolerable treatment. Make sure to take a picture before the Abraxane causes his hair to fall out! I'm still tolerating the Gem/Abrax with cisplatin thrown in after 19 treatments better than I tolerated 12 Folfirinox, so there's hope for him there.
On my first treatment, the Abraxane was missing (not approved yet), and my CA19-9 was also higher two weeks later. It started coming down after the Abraxane was added in, but we don't know if it was really the additional drug or just a delayed reaction.
Either way, levels over 30000 are definitely a cause for concern, but the increase was only 3%, which might be in the error range / variability of the test, or numerous other "noise" factors. I wouldn't panic just yet -- give it a few treatments to watch for the trend. But if you can, ask the oncologist to test CA19-9 as often as practical. (i.e., if they're testing CBC+CMP before each infusion, ask them to include CA19-9 as well.)