ca125

[judy1947]

I was diagnosed with stage 3C ovarian cancer, the omentum was removed,  I had taxol/carbo 6 treatments, my ca125 went as low at 7.2  and has gradually come up to 20, is this normal to do that , it increased from 9.2 to 20 in 4 months, should I be concerned, I have an appointment on Monday, but this makes for a long weekend of worry  I am rather concerned of the jump in my numbers

[judy1947]

I went to the dr and they made an appt for a cat scan and another blood test with another appt in june with both the gyn and the onc. Just as you said, do you know anything about the hormone treatment for this, I asked about the carbo/taxol again if and when I need chemo and she said that it if definitly and option, but said that they may try hormone treatment to level out the blood is this the normal course of treatment or should I ask for more details

thank you for being my sounding board, i think of these questions after the fact.

[Annekathryn Goodman, M.D.]

Dear Judy,

Weekends are tough when you are waiting to talk about results. CA 125 is a protein that can have a variation in value based on the lab assay and other factors such as inflammation, certain herbs that affect the liver, and some infections.

Most labs report 35 as the cut off for normal.

Now having said that, if your CA 125 value has been slowly rising from  7 to 20, it could also represent an early recurrence. that is a very tough thing to think about. Commonly, a CT scan will still be normal . Then you and your doctor are faced with the dilemma - should you wait and repeat in a month? should you consider a laparoscopy to look inside? It is tough!
please let us know what you decide to do
best wishes