CA 19-9 and pancreatic cancer: What do the numbers mean?

my sister has had the whipple surgery and her numbers went from 22.4 that day of the surgery to 10,513.2 this past week the surgery was donr on june 8 th this year so about 6 weeks ago how high should she be before she stops this new chemo

The Johns Hopkins tumor board will be reviewing my wife's case tomorrow. Next week, we'll have a call the the JH oncologist who oversaw her folfirinox treatments. We're hoping that there's a clinical trial she can qualify for because she's probably not up to more folfirinox. The neuropathy is already debilitating. Folfirinox was effective for the particular mutation in the original tumor but we'll need new biopsies to see if the new tumor has different mutations before deciding on treatment. According to her local oncologist, the small size of the tumor on the ovary will require removal of the ovary rather than just a biopsy. We'll also schedule a consult with an ob/gyn oncologist. Lots of decisions but we need to act fast.

My dad's CA 19-9 level was 4999.9 when he was diagnosed with cancer, after 6 chemo the CA 19-9 level went down to 258 now after 1.5 months CA 19-9 level again increased to 450 . Does that mean that he can is coming back?

Thanks for asking. He has been getting chemo every other week for the last 5 months. We will be back at Mayo Clinic at the beginning of March to see how things responded. Hopefully a chemo holiday will be coming soon!

Has he had scans showing tumor shrinkage?

Beachdog our stories continue to align. My husband 's ca 19-9 has also been rising fast the past few months and we fear a drop metastasis to his colon. Scans and a biopsy so far are inconclusive but the lab marker usually doesn't lie, so we will likely be starting a new chemo regimen this week or some type of immunotherapy. He already had neuropathy from the folfirinox regimen so wants to avoid any drugs that might worsen this. PC is known for spread even after clean surgical margins, so I guess we just roll with the punches 😔. We are being told at Mayo that additional operations to remove further cancer after PC are not advised since there is likely cancer in other places as well - if it spread to one place it has or will spread to others, hence the chemo route to try and kill it off instead. Prayers to all.

Beachdog our stories continue to align. My husband 's ca 19-9 has also been rising fast the past few months and we fear a drop metastasis to his colon. Scans and a biopsy so far are inconclusive but the lab marker usually doesn't lie, so we will likely be starting a new chemo regimen this week or some type of immunotherapy. He already had neuropathy from the folfirinox regimen so wants to avoid any drugs that might worsen this. PC is known for spread even after clean surgical margins, so I guess we just roll with the punches 😔. We are being told at Mayo that additional operations to remove further cancer after PC are not advised since there is likely cancer in other places as well - if it spread to one place it has or will spread to others, hence the chemo route to try and kill it off instead. Prayers to all.

My wife's CA19-9 dropped to below 30 after her surgery 2/20/20 but has been increasing ever since. Surgical margins were 100% clean and every surgical biopsy was negative. She's has blood work every month and scans every 6 weeks. Every scan has shown nothing. She's also had circulating DNA tests also negative. Two months ago the CA19-9 doubled and last month it quadrupled. The scans from last week now show a mass on the left ovary. Prior scan that visualized that area was in August and was clear.

We won't know for sure if this is pancan spread or something else entirely until it is removed, but due to the CA19-9, it is likely.

Bottom line, for people who's CA19-9 tracks the progression of their disease, it is an indicator worth paying attention to.