C-Reactive Protein Test?

marbleotis
marbleotis Member Posts: 720 Member
in Colorectal Cancer #1
Has anyone had this test? I read in the Anti Cancer book that it is a predictor of inflamation...disease...cancer. I have CC 3b, had the surgery and 11 of 12 chemo rounds. I was curious if I should request this test? Your wisdom is appreciated. Alice

Comments

  • steved
    steved Member Posts: 834 Member
    #2
    CRP
    It is a very nonspecific indicator of inflammationa nd more nonspecific than CEA which itself has significant limitations.It is unlikely to add anything to your monitoring. CEA remains the best biochemical marker we have but for many even CEA helps very little.

    steve
  • pete43lost_at_sea
    pete43lost_at_sea Member Posts: 3,900 Member
    #3
    steved said:

    CRP
    It is a very nonspecific indicator of inflammationa nd more nonspecific than CEA which itself has significant limitations.It is unlikely to add anything to your monitoring. CEA remains the best biochemical marker we have but for many even CEA helps very little.

    steve

    Steve, you may be right but I aim to keep crp low
    But it does have a role, it's elevation in conjunction with cea is bad prognostic omen. My crp was very high a few months ago, so I read about it, cannot find the paper. Now my crp less than .7

    Any systemic inflammation is bad and helps cancer cells.

    Hugs,
    Pete
  • tanstaafl
    tanstaafl Member Posts: 1,313 Member
    #4
    CRP is spendy, for us
    There are several inflammation markers. The most common is ESR (old and cheap) which is supposed to reflect a longer time period than the CRP.

    I consider ESR as a back up biomarker (#5), it was used for monitoring cancer 40+ years ago. If ESR goes and stays way high, even with low CEA or low CA19-9, I am going to start thinking about revving up the doctors and scanners for something. On the other hand, I can use ESR (inflammation) to normalize the CEA and CA19-9 results and stay a little cooler on minor CEA/CA19-9 fluctuations up.

    Some kind of inflammation measure seems a generally good idea, but prefer ESR so far. Perhaps others could comment.
  • thxmiker
    thxmiker Member Posts: 1,278 Member
    #5
    steved said:

    CRP
    It is a very nonspecific indicator of inflammationa nd more nonspecific than CEA which itself has significant limitations.It is unlikely to add anything to your monitoring. CEA remains the best biochemical marker we have but for many even CEA helps very little.

    steve

    CEA is not a conclusive test.
    The CEA is not a conclusive test for many cancers and a conclusive test for other cancers. Octreotides, H5IAA, and several other proteins are positive cancer markers.

    An Example: My CEA was 1125 in June 2010. I had Surgery, Chemo, etc... My CEA at the end of April 2012 was 2.0. I had my colonoscopy two weeks ago, the pathology shows a tumor. My CEA is still 2.0. There are other markers to be watched.

    I just found out this afternoon I have Signet Ring Cell again. Friday we will have a battle plan.

    Best Always, mike
  • marbleotis
    marbleotis Member Posts: 720 Member
    #6
    tanstaafl said:

    CRP is spendy, for us
    There are several inflammation markers. The most common is ESR (old and cheap) which is supposed to reflect a longer time period than the CRP.

    I consider ESR as a back up biomarker (#5), it was used for monitoring cancer 40+ years ago. If ESR goes and stays way high, even with low CEA or low CA19-9, I am going to start thinking about revving up the doctors and scanners for something. On the other hand, I can use ESR (inflammation) to normalize the CEA and CA19-9 results and stay a little cooler on minor CEA/CA19-9 fluctuations up.

    Some kind of inflammation measure seems a generally good idea, but prefer ESR so far. Perhaps others could comment.

    Thanks - I see my Onc for
    Thanks - I see my Onc for chemo 12 of 12 on Monday so I will bring all these questions to him. This is all great stuff.

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