CA 125 counts

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JKendall
JKendall Member Posts: 186
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hey guys, I need a little information. I hope everyone is doing well. My wife (Jerri) has been off treatments since April, 2005 after doing chemo and radiation for Stage IV, mets to ovaries and a few lymph nodes. On the day of her surgery (Oct., 2004), her CEA was less than 1. But her CA 125 was way up there (I don't remember the exact number now...old age is setting in.) The oncologist and surgeons said it's kind of unusual, but not unheard of, for the CA 125 to be a better tracking device. When she stopped the treatments back in April, her CA125 was about 7 or 8. (35 is the upper end of the "safe" scale). It varied some over the months, but then in the last few checkups it has been steadily rising. It went from about 17, to about 25, then 30. It was right at 35 for a couple checks. Then about a week ago it jumped up to 58. That's a little scary. CT scan is scheduled for March 7th. (Previous PET scan was clear back in November, 2005.)

Her CEA has surprisingly come out of nowhere and is at 3.5, but we weren't too concerned over that.

Anyone had much experience with the CA 125 marker? The oncologist wants to wait until something is found on the CT or PET scan, and has previously said she wouldn't start chemo based only on the increased markers. Have any of you had a similar experience? Thanks. Jimmy

Comments

  • terril
    terril Member Posts: 296
    #2
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    Hi Jimmy!
    I had mets to my ovaries also. Not knowing I had colon cancer, they thought it was ovarian. Preoperative CA125 was 75 for me.
    My postop CEA was 1.8. There can be a variety of situations that will make a CA125 elevate. One big indicatior my doc said was
    how low my CA125 was if these tumors were really ovarian cancer. A friend of mine had ovarian and her numbers were in
    the 500's. Again, there could be other things that might cause the rise in the CA125. I took them 3 weeks to figure it was colon cancer. The CEA stain was positive. Keep up informed about the situatiion! Terri
  • scouty
    scouty Member Posts: 1,965 Member
    #3
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    Hi Jimmy,

    Good to hear from you!!!!!! My CA125 was up to 35 but they did not have any previous history. Hearing that it was an indicator for ovarian cancer and that colorectal cancer does go there, I chose to have my ovaries removed laproscopically and everything came back negative. I did have a few inclusion cysts (benign) on both ovaries and the doc said they cold have caused the elevation. Apparently they know less about CA125 then they do CEA and we all know about CEA.

    Lisa P.
  • Glv49
    Glv49 Member Posts: 206 Member
    #4
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    I was diagnosed in July 2003 with colon cancer StageIV with mets to my ovary. They also thought I had ovarian cancer at first, as my CA125 pre surgery was really high. So was my CEA now though I have bloodwork every 4 mos, and CA125 is always normal, and so is CEA. I am scheduled for a PET in April, so hopefully it will be NED again. Good luck to your wife, I'm sure her doc will let you know if there is any concern for the rising numbers. I once read that as long as the scans are clear, not to worry too much about the numbers. But I know, like everyone else thats easier said than done. It seems like once you have this disease you are always going to worry every time you have a test... I know I do.
    Gail
  • spongebob
    spongebob Member Posts: 2,565 Member
    #5
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    Ahoy, Jimmy -

    A gastro doc friend (and colon cancer survivor - AND fellow Colondar model) told me that the CA 125 is an even less reliable marker than CEA (and we all know how unreliable that can be). My CA 125 has never been above 0 (I wonder why? Maybe I'm just not that in touch with my feminine side?).

    Seriously, though, it's an indicator. Since it's rising, there may be something going on. Jerri was pretty young when she got CRC, there's a possibility that it's genetic in origin. If that's the case genetic cancers like HNPCC tend to met to the reproductive and digestive organs. When is her next PET sked? Is the plan to take a loot at the CT and determine if there's a need to do a PET?

    You're doing the right thing by being cautious, but - scarry though it may be right now - don't drive yourself crazy (unless you're already there!)

    - Sponge

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