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CA19-9 going up and back pain at night - recurrence?
Pancreatic Cancer | Last Active: Nov 16, 2023 | Replies (23)Comment receiving replies
I can't speak to any of this surgery/recurrence stuff, since I don't qualify for surgery. However, I noted your comment re trying to get a PET scan. I had an oncologist appointment today, and as part of that I asked whether it was worth getting a PET scan to determine the extent of abdominal mets. My thinking was that if we could determine that the chemo had killed the abdominal mets, maybe radiation on the main tumor would now be appropriate. He said that a PET scan can't pick up anything smaller than 1.5cm diameter, and by the time a met was that large, it would have shown up on the CT scan I had Wednesday, and it would likely make my CA 19-9 increase. That would seem to jibe with what your surgeon said.
Replies to "I can't speak to any of this surgery/recurrence stuff, since I don't qualify for surgery. However,..."
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Hello @ncteacher !
I was stage II 2.8 cm tumor in the tail section of pancreas
, no metastases, 1 out of 24 lymph nodes tested that was "infected" with the cancer. My CA19-9 prior to surgery was 91. I have KRASG12 -D gene; no BRCA gene, and a "variant of unknown significance" (Exon40) on ATM gene and pathogenic variants on TP53 (has to do with repairing damaged DNA). A few months (3) after my partial pancreatectomy and spleenectomy, my antigen was very low (6,7,8,6), and then recently has risen to 29 where lab standard upper limit is at 34. I'm testing again later this week as it seems to be rising very quickly now. My dr. has a PET scan and ctDNA testing for me ordered now, which I will get, but from other comments on this thread it seems like a MRI would be more or at least as useful. Wondering wondering my oncologist has not ordered one for me, but I will certainly ask her if it's a good recommendation at least for me.