CA27.29 blood test
 

My MO ordered a CA27.29 blood test for the first time this past week. Thankfully the test should be less than 38 and mine was 17. But my question is does that mean I have some (even though small) cancer cells floating around in my blood? Does a person who never had breast cancer have a 0 result on this test?

Thanks.
Cathy

Re: CA27.29 blood test
 

I don't know what to tell you. My blood work was in the normal range. I had a ct in Nov. of 2015 for rib cage pain that was due to fosilmax problems. From top to bottom and
nothing showed. Come Aug. just 9 months later and other previous blood work, I had
swollen lymph nodes on the opposite site of my breast cancer. Here I had tiny 6 dots
on the lungs that showed up in a pet scan. So tiny they had to be magnified to be seen.
Now I have a pet scan every 90 days. Next one May 10 and I have a small lump near the collar bone that may be left over from the last with no evidence of a problem or
it just popped up. Can't wait for the next test.

Re: CA27.29 blood test
 

It's just a way to keep an eye on you. Markers can bounce around quite a bit. That would be considered your "baseline". If your markers suddenly started to climb, or double and triple then the doc would order more disgnostics to see what was going on. That said, some people w cancer never have markers. Don't let the numbers mess with you. Normal is normal. And that is good!!

Re: CA27.29 blood test
 

Thanks for the replies. Ariana - I hope everything goes well for you. SoCalGal - you are right, normal is normal. I guess I was hoping for no trace of cancer in my system.

Re: CA27.29 blood test
 

>>I guess I was hoping for no trace of cancer in my system.

Cathy, there may well be no traces of cancer in your system, but (alas) we don't know how to check for that. The tumor markers (Ca27.29, CEA, CA 15-3) test for antigens that some tumors produce, but they are not testing specifically for cancer cells. The antigens are also produced (at lower levels) by normal cells, so I don't think anyone expects a level of zero on these tests. To help muddy the waters, some breast cancers don't cause a rise in tumor markers, and other non-cancerous things (mostly r/t inflammation) can cause a rise above normal.

I've never heard of a tumor marker of zero, has anyone else? A "normal" level means that this test has been validated to show no evidence of cancer when within normal range (with the above disclaimers).

Because these are such unreliable tests, most oncs don't use them after adjuvant treatment of early breast cancer. They are not recommended for that use in most treatment guidelines.

Tumor markers can be useful for those with advanced disease, once it has been established that the cancer does produce the antigens reliably. They can be used to monitor that a treatment is working (looking for declines) and also to signal that it's not (prompting scans to see what, if anything, is really going on).

It would be great if we had a reliable test to show "no cancer" (or the opposite), but right now, we do not. There is a lot of research into ways to assay circulating tumor cells, and/or DNA profiles in blood, but there is nothing ready for prime time at this point. Here's some info (maybe too much info!) from the NCI about tumor markers in general: http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/d...ers-fact-sheet .

Debbie Laxague

Re: CA27.29 blood test
 

Thank you Debbie. You explained everything so well. That's exactly what I was looking for - that no one probably has a zero result and that it's not cancer floating around in my blood. The attached link was very informative. I appreciate you taking the time to explain this to me. Wish I wasn't such a worry wart but I am. :)

Re: CA27.29 blood test