I don’t see a reference to an MRI.
Ditto the remarks concerning CTs. Sometimes they will not pick up flat tumors although mine w/WO contrast did. However, there was a potential other one that during surgery could not be found. Surgery was October. My tumor marker starting rising from normal a few weeks after surgery . last week, it dropped by 50%. The scans showed nothing new but a small area of uptake. A liver MRI was then prescribed to look in detail. They still cannot find anything definitively. During that period I had surgical recovery, began GEMZAR and also had Covid. Even though I had very little downtime I believe the CA19-9 was affected by a combination of all of this.
Good surgeons want to operate if it is curative. Even for a period of time. If they believe, based on the data they have that they cannot remove all known disease, they don’t go in. As much as we want it out, we must realize that if it is in the bloodstream, removing a tumor will not cure. Perhaps the chemo decision is a good one to make your surgery more successful and allow you to be NED for a longer period of time or forever!! CT DNA may be the next test useful for you.
Lastly, these tests (19-9 and CT DNA) track my disease pretty accurately, This is not true for many. CA19-9 can be affected by many things and can bounce around. I believe it is the overall trend that doctors rely on. Not one number. Take care; I understand the anxiety surrounding all of this.

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