CA 125 - range of levels

madona

Hi I am new . A stage 4 OC and with 548 CA125 level after first chemo cycle with carbo/taxol .
I am trying to find the highest levels known at the start of chemo .
can someone please give me some pointer .
Thanks a lot .

floridajo

Madona
Welcome to the site,sorry we have to meet under these conditions. Please don't put alot of stock in the ca-125 #. it just means that your disease puts out alot of proteins that the test picks up on. I know of a girl with a ca-125 of 4050,and she was staged a 1c. For me my cancer doesn't put out alot of proteins, but I'm having a recurrence right now with a ca-125 of 54. It's a tricky little test to understand, but the numbers sometimes have very little to do with the volume of disease present. Good luck...and again welcome..(((hugz)))...Joanne

curlee8661

Hi Madona,
Welcome! I'm sorry you have the need to be here, but this is a great place to get answers and find support. My oncologist seemed concerned with my numbers not dropping much after the first chemo, but after the second treatment there was a BIG change. I asked him some questions based on my initial numbers, and he ended up telling me that he has seen them go above 5,000. But, like Joanne said, these numbers are just a guesstimate at best. They do NOT necessarily reflect the amount of cancer remaining. Try not to worry too much! Just focus on getting through treatment for now!

(((HUGS)))
~Marianna~

saundra

Welcome to this site. It has helped me in everyway. I am Stage IV also, diagnosed March 2, 2007. I had 3 liver tumors which put me in the 4th stage. Am considered tumor free and in remission now after 8 chemos, debulking surgery and radio freq. ablation of the liver tumors. I started with a CA-125 of 2988 and am now at a 5 but my oncologist thinks it is a good indicator for my cancer cells, but not everyone's. E mail me if you have any questions. Saundra

Unknown

This comment has been removed by the Moderator

kris43

I am Stage IIIc, I was 1632 at the time of surgery and as of 2 weeks ago was 6.9

Your CA 125 is your "marker" -you watch it go down with each treatment cycle and the norms are from 0-35 or 0-21,depending on what your doctor uses.

Best of luck with your treatments and keep posting. You'll get a lot of support here. Take care.
Kris

Angelasmom2

CA 125 range of levels
My daughter has 3c ovarian cancer and started out with almost 6000 CA 125 count. After two rounds of chemo, her CA 125 showed 167.

catcan

HiMadona
I was and am still stage 4 OC diagnosed 4/09. My CA125 was 2300 and now at 1150 after 3 different chemos. I'm getting ready to finish Topotekan and will be going to Gemcarz (sp)Hanging in there. Don't rely much on the CA125 stick to the cat scan

leesag

Angelasmom2 said:

CA 125 range of levels
My daughter has 3c ovarian cancer and started out with almost 6000 CA 125 count. After two rounds of chemo, her CA 125 showed 167.

CA125
My CA125 was 9824 at diagnosis and is currently 12 4 months after chemo.

Hissy_Fitz

catcan said:

HiMadona
I was and am still stage 4 OC diagnosed 4/09. My CA125 was 2300 and now at 1150 after 3 different chemos. I'm getting ready to finish Topotekan and will be going to Gemcarz (sp)Hanging in there. Don't rely much on the CA125 stick to the cat scan

I think it must be a good
I think it must be a good marker for me. Before surgery, it was 4,000 and my nadir, about 60 days after I finished the Carbo/Taxol regimen, was 3.8

It has stayed pretty stable for the last 3 months, just below 7. But I am still getting Taxol (monthly) as maintenance, so that may be keeping the CA125 down.

I am still getting monthly blood draws but after I finish the maintenance, my doctor's protocol is every 3 months. I am going to ask him to leave me on monthly checks, and maybe he will compromise at every 60 days.

Carlene

Tina Brown

Hissy_Fitz said:

I think it must be a good
I think it must be a good marker for me. Before surgery, it was 4,000 and my nadir, about 60 days after I finished the Carbo/Taxol regimen, was 3.8

It has stayed pretty stable for the last 3 months, just below 7. But I am still getting Taxol (monthly) as maintenance, so that may be keeping the CA125 down.

I am still getting monthly blood draws but after I finish the maintenance, my doctor's protocol is every 3 months. I am going to ask him to leave me on monthly checks, and maybe he will compromise at every 60 days.

Carlene

High CA 125
I am the other way round. My CT scan showed little change from when I finished treatment and my CA125 was 34 at it's lowest. But now my Current CA125 is 1,280.

Tina

Angelasmom2

leesag said:

CA125
My CA125 was 9824 at diagnosis and is currently 12 4 months after chemo.

CA125
Love the news!

vj1

Tina Brown said:

High CA 125
I am the other way round. My CT scan showed little change from when I finished treatment and my CA125 was 34 at it's lowest. But now my Current CA125 is 1,280.

Tina

CA 125
This is a mystery. I am reading how many of you had very high CA125 at dx. I was dx with stage 3C. My ca125 was 111 (yes I have checked and rechecked the reports) Since chemo which finished last Nov I am holding at 5.2. It drops a bit with each 3 month draw. Anyone have any insight on this? I was told it would go up and down a bit even when NED.
Some of these numbers I am seeing are staggering. I keep dreaming that my initial count was because I did not have stage 3. Some dream huh? There are days I just want to throw the signals, etc out the window.

V

lillin20

levels
my grandma's initial levels were 458

Hissy_Fitz

vj1 said:

CA 125
This is a mystery. I am reading how many of you had very high CA125 at dx. I was dx with stage 3C. My ca125 was 111 (yes I have checked and rechecked the reports) Since chemo which finished last Nov I am holding at 5.2. It drops a bit with each 3 month draw. Anyone have any insight on this? I was told it would go up and down a bit even when NED.
Some of these numbers I am seeing are staggering. I keep dreaming that my initial count was because I did not have stage 3. Some dream huh? There are days I just want to throw the signals, etc out the window.

V

Unfortunately, the CA125
Unfortunately, the CA125 count has nothing to do with staging. Or maybe I should say fortunately, since mine was 4,000.

The CA125 is your body's response to an enzyme produced by the Cancer. Some people react very strongly and some don't. Also, infections, bowel obstructions, etc can cause a jump in the numbers.

Mine has bounced, roughly, between 4 and 7 for the last 7 months.

Carlene

Tina Brown

Hissy_Fitz said:

Unfortunately, the CA125
Unfortunately, the CA125 count has nothing to do with staging. Or maybe I should say fortunately, since mine was 4,000.

The CA125 is your body's response to an enzyme produced by the Cancer. Some people react very strongly and some don't. Also, infections, bowel obstructions, etc can cause a jump in the numbers.

Mine has bounced, roughly, between 4 and 7 for the last 7 months.

Carlene

Carlene
I was interested to read your views on CA125. Not sure if you've read any of my posts but my recent CA 125 has jumped from 71 to 1,280 in 2 months. However my CT scan looks relatively unchanged??? I am having bloating which I now realise is wind as my bowle movements are more frequent and smaller amounts are passed. My onc was unable to tell me exactly why the jump was so high yet the scan did not match and has put me on Caelyx (which I beleive is Doxil)

Do you think I may have a partial bowel obstruction? I am going mad here - it is very difficult to get hold of my onc as they are so busy. If so would that resolve itself once chemo starts? I know I should speak to my onc but I left a message last week and still not heard anything.

Thanks Tina x

Hissy_Fitz

Tina Brown said:

Carlene
I was interested to read your views on CA125. Not sure if you've read any of my posts but my recent CA 125 has jumped from 71 to 1,280 in 2 months. However my CT scan looks relatively unchanged??? I am having bloating which I now realise is wind as my bowle movements are more frequent and smaller amounts are passed. My onc was unable to tell me exactly why the jump was so high yet the scan did not match and has put me on Caelyx (which I beleive is Doxil)

Do you think I may have a partial bowel obstruction? I am going mad here - it is very difficult to get hold of my onc as they are so busy. If so would that resolve itself once chemo starts? I know I should speak to my onc but I left a message last week and still not heard anything.

Thanks Tina x

Tina....a total bowel
Tina....a total bowel obstruction (and I speak from experience here) is very painful; you would definitely know if you had one.

I really think a BO would have shown up on your CT. Mine was diagnosed via a plain old xray.

Will your doctors consider doing a PET scan? They might get something to light up on a PET scan that the CT scan is just not seeing.

I think your doctor has done the right thing by putting you back on chemo. That's very proactive of him, considering that your CT scan was clear. He is evidently thinking that the Cancer is active again, but very early and just not showing up yet on the scan.

Was 71 your nadir (lowest) CA125?

Carlene

Tina Brown

Hissy_Fitz said:

Tina....a total bowel
Tina....a total bowel obstruction (and I speak from experience here) is very painful; you would definitely know if you had one.

I really think a BO would have shown up on your CT. Mine was diagnosed via a plain old xray.

Will your doctors consider doing a PET scan? They might get something to light up on a PET scan that the CT scan is just not seeing.

I think your doctor has done the right thing by putting you back on chemo. That's very proactive of him, considering that your CT scan was clear. He is evidently thinking that the Cancer is active again, but very early and just not showing up yet on the scan.

Was 71 your nadir (lowest) CA125?

Carlene

Hi Carlene
Hi Carlene

I have quite alot of gas and bloating. The noises that the gas make are quite loud and bubbly and when I need to use the bathroom I have to go quick. But I don't always pass alot & I may have to go 2 or 3 times in quick succession & then I'm alright. This often happens shortly after I've eaten.

After chemo ended my CA125 went like this: 70, 34, 71, 1,280 - present reading.

Thanks Carlene

mukesh kumar

hi.im new.my mom is

hi.im new.my mom is diagnoised with OC and her CA125 is 17000 after 20 chemos.is there any problem further.i want to know that can it be cured..anythings to worry..thank u

 

Jodisgoing180

I have a high CA-125

My CA-125 was 308 when diagnosed, stage 4.  I just finished treatment 8 weeks ago and it never went below 90.  I am scheduled for a PET Scan to rule out anything that chemo missed.

I don't have any symptoms of cancer (at least I don't think I do), my bowels are normal, no painful gas, normal pee.  The only thing that really concerns me is that I had a pleural effusion, and there is pressure where the injection site was for my thoracentesis.  Other than that, I have no issues with breathing, I am running C25K, and have really good energy levels (for having been through 18 rounds of chemo-- weekly).

azgrandma

mine was 4500 after 2 chemo it went to 11

mine was 4500