CA-125 self home testing available?

[e6118lKftfk]

Hello,

Do you know if it is possible to do CA-125 self home testing without a doctor's prescription?

For example, there are many other tests, such as thyroid testing, where you can buy the test kit online, they send the kit to your home.  
You take prepare the test sample by taking a finger pin ***** of blood, then you send the sample by mail to the lab and they mail you back the results with an explanation.

I know that the healthcheck.com will allow an individual to go to their testing centers across the country, show up without a doctor's prescription, they take the blood sample for the CA-125 test and then mail you your results.

Do you know of any CA-125 self home tests that are done entirely in the home?

Has the FDA approved CA-125 home testing as they have with other types of home tests?

Thank you for any information you can provide,

[alanpvegas]

I forgot to mention...it's unlikely any 'home' testing will ever be approved for ovarian cancer screening when it comes to CA-125....the FDA isn't going to do it (CA-125 is highly unreliable for diagnosis).  For instance, CA-125 is only identified with 68% of ovarian cancer patients.  While that is high, there is a  32% failure rate...that's why it's only approved by the FDA to MONITOR cancer treatment...the oncologist is the only one who can interpret the results (typically after a few infusions/months) to determine if ca-125 is a right monitoring test for you (some may rely only on radiology more, etc.).

Now, I know your question is related to your children (I assume)...here is some hope.  If you are unaware, the 'pap smear' test is useless for detecting cervical cancer, BUT the HPV test (which is typically not covered by insurance, go figure) is highly reliable in detecting cervical cancer...typically before it is even detected by the pap smear test!

So how does that relate to ovarian cancer?  Well back in 2006 a researcher identified that women with ovarian cancer had elevated Bcl-2 levels (which were associated with 92% of ovarian cancers), while blood levels from the CA125 only identified 68% of ovarian cancer patients.

How did they detect this?  In the urine! So, yeah, you see where this is going...they are of course working on a lab version first but you know there may be a 'home' kit version in the future.  With such a high detection rate it is almost as reliable as a home pregnancy test.  Yet, this is all in the research phase.

So your girls may have a better chance of detecting this early (curable stage 1) in the future than you did in the present.

[crecco]

I have heard of the ovasure test but that is about all that I know of it. A CA test kit at home would probably be a disaster as the others have said, it is a complex test that takes a few days for the results to come back. Even if it was simplified into a home test I am sure that it would cause a lot of needless hysteria for a lot of women.
  But some kind of test or screening would be a dream come true for many of us.
   Chris

[Jan214]

Flo, thank you for sharing that.  I hope they get on with it already.  My mother died of this, now I have 3c, and I have two daughters that I am scared witless about, because this cancer hasn't skipped a generation yet.  I desperately want there to be a test. I want there to be something that is less barbaric than having everything yanked out of you at a young age and going into early menopause and the whole mess that that creates.  My mom was only 38 when she died.  I am 52 so I guess I got lucky.   I don't want any of our daughters to have to worry about this anymore than they would smallpox.
Thanks again.

[Flo2]

Hi,

Just found further info about the Ovasure test.  It seems it has not been approved by yuor FDA.  And because of that the Society of Gynae Oncs issued the following statement:

http://www.sgo.org/WorkArea/showcontent.aspx?id=1754

Sounds like it is still in the validation stage and not the answer to our prayers for an accurate way to predict OvCa.

Flo.

[slee56]

alanpvegas said ...(for instance you may have ca125 but be healthy or have a lower ca125 and be sick as a dog).
  
Thats what happened in my case had a ca125 done in mid May after asking three drs about doing one... It came back at a 16 which was in the range of 0-35. Less then a month after the test a mass appeared on my right breast.
That sick as a dog applies in my case as I am sooo ready to have the major surgery done on the 29th of this month. A gyn/onc will do a lap histerectomy after the double mastectomy. 6 days and counting down ....
I take 2 percocett every 4 hours to control the pelvic pain esp on my right side also started taking lexapro yesterday so it can kick in and relieve anxiety/depression. Dr said to still take the Ativan until the lexapro starts to work...  but only will take 1/2 the recomneded amount of the Ativan. Today is wednesday and will be the 1st day this week I didn't go see a dr ....
So anyway the ca 125 test are not always acccurate and in my case appears that I fall into the the 20% of test result that are false negative.

[alanpvegas]

Sorta, the posts above are right.  You can go to a testing facility, but otherwise you may have the option to have a home care nurse do a blood withdrawl (my mom used to get that done vs going to the lab each week/month)...but that's the exception rather than the rule.

CA-125 is only good for monitoring treatment of ovarian cancer, it's *not* FDA approved for diagnosing ovarian cancer since many other factors influence a ca-125 rise....thus it's only legal use is for ovca cancer treatment monitoring....this is simply because only a physician can identify if ca125 is an adequate marker/measurement of your progress when compared to radiology scans/film/etc...(for instance you may have ca125 but be healthy or have a lower ca125 and be sick as a dog).

Are you asking because you are in treatment and want a more convenient way or because you just want to 'check' to see if you have ovca?

[Flo2]

From what I have heard, CA125 is not great for detecting OvCa.  However, I believe there is a new test called OvaSure that looks at multiple markers that is supposed to be good.

“Laboratory Corporation of America® Holdings is now offering OvaSure™, an Ovarian Cancer Screening test to assess the presence of early stage ovarian cancer in high-risk women. In a recent study of high risk and average risk subjects, this blood test, using six biomarkers and research conducted at Yale University School of Medicine, was shown to discriminate between disease-free women and ovarian cancer patients (stage I-IV) with high specificity (99.4%) and sensitivity (95.3%). Additional studies performed at Yale University School of Medicine demonstrate comparable findings.”

[Jan214]

e6118lKftfk,

That test cannot be done like others using dipsticks and litmus papers.  The machine that is necessary for that test costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.  I have blood work done every monday and some of it comes back in two hours but the CA takes a day or two, because Quest has to send the sample to Atlanta to do the test where that particular machine is.  It is just to expensive for them to have one of in every city.  Besides the blood collected for that test is a whole lot more than a pinpricks worth.  Also, the vile they put it in has an agent at the bottom that has to be mixed with your blood for the test.  I forget now what it is called, but I guess that is irrelevant.  Anyway, it is a way more complicated test than a thyroid or ph check.  So, if you are asking for yourself than no, you will still have to get the test done the old fashioned way. Sorry
Jan