HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - Can necrosis cause tumor markers to rise?

StephN · 03-02-2006, 05:48 PM

Hello -

All I can tell you is from my own experience. Your Mom is lucky to have someone like you looking out for her.

Keep in mind that the CEA marker is normal at BELOW 5. You Mom's result is BELOW ONE - so I do not see this as an indication that anything is wrong. If her number is now around ONE, it is nowhere near the highs of 9 when her brain mets were all active. As they keep an eye on the size of the area of mets, they should keep watching the CEA. If it creeps up again consistently, there may be more tumor activity.

In my case just this month - my CEA marker has been steady at .9 and what was increasing in size in the old brain tumor bed WAS necrosis.

Know also that it very difficult to sort out the changes in an area of old tumor. The scans we have just are not precise enough. If your Mom can avoid an "exploratory" surgery, she would. Our docs do not like to take chances with us stage IV patients.

03-02-2006, 05:48 PM	#2
StephN Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Misty woods of WA State Posts: 4,128	A tricky question Hello - All I can tell you is from my own experience. Your Mom is lucky to have someone like you looking out for her. Keep in mind that the CEA marker is normal at BELOW 5. You Mom's result is BELOW ONE - so I do not see this as an indication that anything is wrong. If her number is now around ONE, it is nowhere near the highs of 9 when her brain mets were all active. As they keep an eye on the size of the area of mets, they should keep watching the CEA. If it creeps up again consistently, there may be more tumor activity. In my case just this month - my CEA marker has been steady at .9 and what was increasing in size in the old brain tumor bed WAS necrosis. Know also that it very difficult to sort out the changes in an area of old tumor. The scans we have just are not precise enough. If your Mom can avoid an "exploratory" surgery, she would. Our docs do not like to take chances with us stage IV patients.