High Blood markers in the ovaries with no primary tumor there or anywhere else!

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dayemdom
dayemdom Member Posts: 28
in Ovarian Cancer #1
My mom had a back pain for two months before her doctor decided to order an MRI that showed tumors on her back bone that are pressing on the nerves and causing a severe pain. She was referred to a neurosurgeon who has operated on her back and removed some tissues. He couldn't remove everything because tumors were very close to her spine. The MRI also showed small nodules in her lungs.

A first biopsy revealed an invasive adenocarcinoma favoring breast cancer. Her oncologist ordered a mammogram that didn't show any tumor in her breasts. The blood tests showed something wrong in her Colon, ovaries,pancreas with the highest blood markers in her ovaries. The doctor said that he can't confirm the origin and he will treat her for a cancer of unknown primary. He suspects that it may be of the ovarian type based on the blood markers. Anyone here was in a similar situation. Can blood markers identify the origin of the tumor?


Thank you.

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  • lindaprocopio
    lindaprocopio Member Posts: 1,980
    #2
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    No exactly what you ask, but a tidbit of info to factor in.
    My cancer was originally diagnosed (2008) as a very rare aggressive form of uterine cancer that recurs and is treated very much like ovarian cancer. A review of my pathology a year later contradicted my papillary serous diagnosis, instead saying this was a different grade 3 endometrial cancer. But recently, when my CA125 went up over 1500, my oncologist said, in an offhand way, "Well, we never see a CA125 this high in standard endometrial cancer, so I think we can make an argument based on that to get Avastin approved by your insurance, as your blood marker is acting much more like ovarian cancer." (& my insurance took that 'high tumor marker blood test' as evidence that this may be enough like ovarian cancer to approve a drug I would ordinarily not have been able to get.) So I guess I'm saying, CA125 tumor marker blood tests can be indicative of where a cancer may have originated from.
  • dayemdom
    dayemdom Member Posts: 28
    #3
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    lindaprocopio said:

    No exactly what you ask, but a tidbit of info to factor in.
    My cancer was originally diagnosed (2008) as a very rare aggressive form of uterine cancer that recurs and is treated very much like ovarian cancer. A review of my pathology a year later contradicted my papillary serous diagnosis, instead saying this was a different grade 3 endometrial cancer. But recently, when my CA125 went up over 1500, my oncologist said, in an offhand way, "Well, we never see a CA125 this high in standard endometrial cancer, so I think we can make an argument based on that to get Avastin approved by your insurance, as your blood marker is acting much more like ovarian cancer." (& my insurance took that 'high tumor marker blood test' as evidence that this may be enough like ovarian cancer to approve a drug I would ordinarily not have been able to get.) So I guess I'm saying, CA125 tumor marker blood tests can be indicative of where a cancer may have originated from.

    Thank for your quick reply.
    Thank for your quick reply. Her oncologist told us that ovarian cancer is very easy to be treated.Is that right?. Based on that we are hoping that he will be able to confirm that it is an ovarian cancer during the course of the treatment.
  • lindaprocopio
    lindaprocopio Member Posts: 1,980
    #4
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    dayemdom said:

    Thank for your quick reply.
    Thank for your quick reply. Her oncologist told us that ovarian cancer is very easy to be treated.Is that right?. Based on that we are hoping that he will be able to confirm that it is an ovarian cancer during the course of the treatment.

    There are set protocols for treatment of ovarian cancer.
    Even if they can't confirm that it is ovarian cancer, almost ALL of the "women's cancers" (uterine, ovarian, breast) are treated with exactly the same chemo drugs. So if they are even "in the ballpark", there is a good chance that the chemo drug that they give her will be effective. Ask her oncologist if they did a tissue assay (& if they didn't, ask them if they WILL do a tissue assay!) to see if her cancer cells are estrogen positive or progesterone positive, as that suggests different chemo drugs that would be effective regardless of where her cancer originated. If they are doing a tissue assay, ask them also to test for HER2 receptivity, as that will also determine whether Herceptin would be a good chemo or maintenance drug for her. Even if you don't know where a cancer started, there are ways to test and see what chemo drugs are most likely to kill her cancer. (((Hugs)))
  • LaundryQueen
    LaundryQueen Member Posts: 676
    #5
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    lindaprocopio said:

    There are set protocols for treatment of ovarian cancer.
    Even if they can't confirm that it is ovarian cancer, almost ALL of the "women's cancers" (uterine, ovarian, breast) are treated with exactly the same chemo drugs. So if they are even "in the ballpark", there is a good chance that the chemo drug that they give her will be effective. Ask her oncologist if they did a tissue assay (& if they didn't, ask them if they WILL do a tissue assay!) to see if her cancer cells are estrogen positive or progesterone positive, as that suggests different chemo drugs that would be effective regardless of where her cancer originated. If they are doing a tissue assay, ask them also to test for HER2 receptivity, as that will also determine whether Herceptin would be a good chemo or maintenance drug for her. Even if you don't know where a cancer started, there are ways to test and see what chemo drugs are most likely to kill her cancer. (((Hugs)))

    Primary tumor unknown
    I agree--the good news is that your mom can start on chemo for "female cancer" and have an very good chance of going into remission.

    I read that cancer can start in the fallopian tubes and later spread to ovaries so the researchers want doctors to start removing fallopian tubes when they do the tubal ligation procedure to lower the woman's risk of cancer.

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