My sister was diagnosed with Her2, 1 or 2 lymph nodes (they're not sure) - in October. She completed the 1st round of Chemo Andry. and is now on taxatore & herceptin. She came down with a fever that required hospitilazaion- they concluded that it must have been viral. They tested her bloodwork with the CA29-27 and found her markers to be 80. They just retested (a few days later) and found it at 97. Of course this is cause for concern - but do you think that the numbers could be off for some other health issue?
Any personal experience woudl be welcome.

When any treatment works the numbers will temporarily rise because the cancer cells that die do so by breaking into several pieces, causing the antigens to believe that there are many more cancer cells within the system. Until the antigen itself dies off, the numbers will be raised. No one knows the life of the antigen, which is the representation of the cancer cells and/or tumors in the body. That is why doctors look for a trend. If ANY treatment works, that is what happens and then it goes down. Often, if the treatment works quite well, the body has a difficult time getting rid of so much debris, but it does go away.

I was recently told by a friend (BC survivor) that tumor markers can be affected by infections. Anybody know the validity of this?

Love and light,

Lisa

Yes, they can. As well, some people over express with antigens. Example. A person with less cancer might have a number in the thousands, while a person with more cancer could have a number in the hundreds. That is why the 'trend' is so important. Markers alone are not a very good indicator unless they have been going up or down steadily.

Don't forget another marker - the CEA, or Carcinoembryonic Antigen test.
My onc runs that as well as CA 27.29 as it is a better indicator (stays more stable) when there is something else upsetting my CA 27.29.
I have both markers checked as part of my complete blood work every three weeks when I go in for my Herceptin/Zometa infusions.
(We also do this since my liver mets came so fast and furious that he does not want me even 1 month off the "radar screen.")

I have asked repeadly why tumor markers are not done rountinely and was told the same answer. That they are not reliable and the insurances will not pay after one person reaches the survival time of 5 years with no recurrence. I had a friend that went through this and she has to pay out of pocket (she is a nurse). None of them work on me and for a long time we thought they did then we figure it out when I had recurrence they were still normal and have never moved since surgery. But, then none of these tests are 100% so they do the best they can with what they have to work with. Hugs, Sandy