Blood tests or scans that allowed doctor to stop chemo treatment

@diamonds I can’t think of anything but that points out why we are the wrong audience for your question. We are not medical professionals and we can’t therefore offer technical or clinical feedback.
My instinct is that you question whether the doc stopped chemo based on questionable data? There is so much to know that would even begin to answer those questions. If there is an answer.

Sending warm healing thoughts your way.

Not a doctor, just a colon cancer survivor, so from my experience, oncologists use CT (and other) scans and a CEA (blood) test to monitor effectiveness of the chemotherapy. There is also a blood test called Signatera (I've not had that one.)

To simplify, the scans show if tumors are growing/shrinking (the therapy is not working/is working), the CEA/Signatera indicates the activity (aggressiveness) of the cancer.

My understanding, which could be wrong, is that oncologists want you to complete a full course of treatment (when your body can handle it) then reevaluate if another therapy or doing another course of treatment is necessary.

Stopping in the middle of a course seems unusual unless there are problems tolerating it, it is found to be ineffective or the cancer has spread elsewhere.

Let's see what others have to say.

What do you think of this study? ncbi.nlm.nlh.gov

Can't reach that link... part of it appears missing?

National Library of Medicine Study 3 months vs 6 months of adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with high risk stage 2 and 3 colorectal cancer: 3 year follow-up of the SCOT non-inferiority RCT

Can’t post link. See below.

OK, had to search for it. Skimmed the conclusions, didn't read the whole thing. Way beyond my abilities to interpret.

From the conclusions: "The findings of this research indicate that 3 months of adjuvant chemotherapy may be sufficient for some patients." That "may" is significant. Then they clarify with "For patients with low-risk stage III disease (T1–3, N1) receiving adjuvant oxaliplatin and capecitabine chemotherapy, 3 months of treatment is sufficient."

This I think is one to discuss with your oncologist. My one point of note based on my experience and that of others' experiences I've read, getting through 3 months of oxaliplatin is often not possible due to the severe side effects. A lot of patients including myself have to drop the "OX" from the FOLFOX regimen. In my case, I had cardiac problems early.

I suppose if you're in that T1-3, N1 classification, one could try the 3-month regimen studied in the paper and if not tolerated, fall back to the more standard 6 month FOLFOX6, but again, that's up to your oncologist and you.

@diamonds, I noticed that you wished to post a URL to an article with your post. You will be able to add URLs to your posts in a few days. There is a brief period where new members can't post links. We do this to deter spammers and keep the community safe.

Here is the link to the study:
- 3-month versus 6-month adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with high-risk stage II and III colorectal cancer: 3-year follow-up of the SCOT non-inferiority RCT https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK551233/

Diamonds, are you currently receiving chemotherapy? Have you talked to your oncologist about the efficacy of 3 months vs 6 months of chemotherapy in your case?