CA-125 results

[Ozman1973]

Hi everyone......me and my wife are a couple living and working in Tijuana, Mexico; recently, we re-started a new fertility treatment after a couple of years we decided to take a break because we were trying since 4 years ago, 2 years ago when we stop the first time my wife was detected with a couple of ovarian cysts, they were removed and we thought that was going to be it......a couple of months ago gyno decided to perform another laparoscopy on her because in recent vaginal ultrasounds cysts were detected again and doc wanted to remove them....once he went in instead of cysts he found a couple of tumors which the patologist found to be on the limit with a low malignity level on both ovaries, so he remove tumors and ovaries.....needless to say fertilty treatment is off our minds now.....gyno recommend us to an oncologyst and the first thing he ask for us was a CA-125 test he is also recommending chemotherapy, just got results from the CA-125 and it is 30.80 U/ml, my questions are.....what does this results means and what's the recommendation for our treatment???

[Lafnatitall]

I agree with msjazz...get a second opinion from a gyn/onc.  It's very unusual for a doctor to recommend chemo based on the CA-125 level because they are so inconclusive.  However, from the surgery and the pathology report she has the results for, the oncologist should be able to tell you why he/she wants to begin chemo.  You should be able to take the pathology and surgical reports with you for your second opinion.

I also agree with survivor_susie; I'd be very optimistic about the whole thing, and please post here again to let us know what you find...

[msjazz]

I would probably seek a second opinion from a gyn/onc. Is this dr. in Mexico or the u.s.?
I am in the states, but I got a second opinion before my 1st surgery from my laproscopy report.  Best wishes.

[survivor_susie]

I'm not a doctor, but it sounds to me like whatever the doctors found was removed miraculously early.  An oncologist will "stage" your wife, on a scale of 1 to 4, for cancer.  If everything was removed early enough, your wife will be done with her treatment for this. Early stage 1's, called 1A and 1B,  usually don't require further treatment.  At stage 1C and beyond, they highly recommend chemo. I've been through it.  It's not so bad.

The CA 125 level is pretty low, as some women here had levels in the thousands.  That being said, it's not the only indicator of cancer.  But, if I were you, I'd be very optimistic about the whole thing!

Please keep us up to date about your wife's progress.  Best of luck.