Tumor markers

Now that I'm on Herceptin every 3 weeks, I have the tumor markers checked whenever I go in for infusion. When I was on chemo, my blood was drawn including for markers every time I went in, be it weekly or bi-weekly. Scans are every 3 months, and have been since my mets diag last Sept.

Love and light,

Lisa

My wife is currently on taxotere and herceptin ( 3 on, 1 off - weekly) after finishing dose-dense AC. We had the CA 15-3 and CEA done and they both went up from when we checked the first time which was right before starting the AC. The CA 15-3 went up 10 points and the CEA went up 1 point.

We were disappointed that the markers went up while on chemo. Does this mean the chemo is not working or are the jumps normal while on chemp because of all the interactions going on while on chemo?

The onc said we will test again in a month and if it goes up again, he may consider adding carbo to the taxotere/herceptin combo.

Thanks

As my first line of chemo was A/C, I quickly found out that I was insensitive to this combo. My cancer was progressing, so I asked the Onc to put me on the next line of therapy, Herceptin/Taxol. I found out through my readings, that HER2 does not respond well to some chemos. Herceptin combos do work much better. My tumor markers went were normal after i week on Herceptin/Taxol. Iknow Adriamycin for me was a waste of valueable time and energy. Hugs

Hi Vinni -
My tumor markers also went up during chemo - they were checked several times during the 6 months of Adria and Taxotere. They got rather high at one point, but was attributed to the treatment effects, not that disease was progressing. Numbers came into normal range about 3 months after getting off chemo. I was then stage 2.5. Same happened with mets. They got even higher, and finally came into the good range where they have stayed for over 2 years.

Vinnie,

This has just happened to me. You can read my history for all details. Heres the short version. Good scan and tm one month ago. Back pain and rear end pain started on week ago. Did chemo on Tues told doctor about pain and she ordered bone scan for Monday. Today they called to say my markers were up 11 points in one month. They are still in normal range but they are concerned with the jump. This may not sound significant to many but my marker was only 66.1 when I was dx with extensive mets. It took 7 months for it to come down to 22.3, now its 33.6 in one month...fearing bone mets now...pain gets worse by the day. I pray that your wife's disease is still stable

Warmly,

Judie

History

Discovered lump Sept. 2002 (mammo didnÃâ€*t pick it up)
Dx Oct 2002-just turned 41
IDC and pagets disease, stage 2B, grade 3/3, nottingham scale 9/9
3cm, lumpectomy,clean margins
er/pr-pos, her2 neg, 2/25 nodes w/cancer
Nov 2002-March 2003-FEC (5fu, epirubicin, cytoxen)
March 2003- started tamoxifen
May 2003- finished rads (33tx)
June 2003-CT/PET Scan- clear
Started 3 month check ups w/lab
Dec 2003-complete hysterectomy
Jan 2004-extensive mets, both lungs & liver(labs normal)
Jan 2004-stopped tamoxifen
Feb 2004 CEA-23 (0-3 normal) CA27.29-66.1 (0-38 normal)
Feb 23to current-clinical trial, taxol & avastin
April 15th, 2004-CT-significant shrinkage on all tumors/plueral effusion gone
June 8th 2004-CT-all liver lesions decreased in size/lung mets gone
Aug 9th, 2004-CA27.29 is 22.3, CEA is .8)
Aug 9th, 2004-Brain-CT neg, lung mets/pleural effusion still gone, liver mets had slight shrinkage. Largest hypodesne lesion is 2.1cm, 6 others 1cm or less.