[StephN]

OK - here is where I had trouble with the study Marcia posted and the NCCN's guidelines NOT meshing. The study is from 1999 and the referenced guidelines are from 2000.

Here is the study's conclusion:
In conclusion, tumor markers are useful tools for the early diagnosis of metastases, being the first sign of recurrence in 69.5% of patients with relapse (76.3% in patients with metastases).

Did not anyone on the guidelines committee at the NCCN READ that study?? Here is where I get to say DUH! Do these numbers not have any meaning in forming GUIDELINES for taking markers?

My diagnosis was in 2000 - AFTER the study was published. My med onc is highly informed and told me then he would be looking at tumor markers since I had an aggressive form of the disease. I was fine with that, as I already had friends who were then in stage IV and knew I was a high risk Stage II patient. I learned early on to look the beast in the eye (with little or no support, I might add).

Maybe one study was not enough for the NCCN to change a guideline, but it is useful if our doctors are aware of the outcomes of these studies and apply the theories of the STUDIES rather than any "one size fits all" guideline.

Just as we are WAY past the "give everyone with BC the same scorched earth drugs," any thoughtful oncologist is WAY past using the same national guidelines for ALL his patients. Fortunately for me, my onc was THINKING of me as an individual patient in 2000, rather than just another hash mark in a statistic.

The BENEFIT to me is that I am alive to be responding to this thread. As well as one more "hash mark" to the good of early surveillance.