Rising CA125 during the middle of chemo

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philipmullican
philipmullican Member Posts: 7
in Ovarian Cancer #1
My Fiancé has Stage IIIc ovarian cancer. She is 40 yrs old and was diagnosed Feb 2, 2011. Her originally CA125 was 15,000. PET scans showed spreading to surface of the liver, some lymph nodes, omentum, part of her colon and rectum. She had six weeks of chemo prior to surgery which reduced the CA125 to around 4500. Her surgery went pretty well and all visible cancer was removed. Her Ca 125 after surgery was 250. She is back in chemo post surgery now. She is on Taxol and Cisplatin for a total of 6 rounds. She just completed round three and her CA125 levels have increased the entire process and are now over 500, up from 250 after surgery. Obviously her oca is concerned because he just set her up for a PET scan in a few days from now. From what I have read Ca125 increases are not uncommon within the first round of chemo but are uncommon to rise steadily up through the third round. She is positive and so am I, however this seems to be a bad sign. Does anyone have any similar experiences? Please be honest with answers.

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  • cfont11
    cfont11 Member Posts: 115
    #2
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    Rising CA125
    I was also diagnosed with 3c last June. Had to have emergency surgery to unblock my colon from the tumor pushing on it and had a colostomy done. Had 6 treatments of carbo/taxol and my CA125 went down, then up. Dr. said it was due to abdominal surgery making the number fluctuate. Had second surgery in Jan. 2011 and had 2 chemo treatments. My CA125 went up but I had a big open wound after the surgery. My CA125 has still gone up a little but my CT scan was clean. My doc said abdominal pains, abdominal surgery, an open wound, an intestinal "bug", diarrhea, and a urinary tract infection, plus many other things, can affect a CA125 reading. Best of luck to you and your fiance and I pray for results for her.

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