Chelee, this past spring I had the same concerns as you. My markers had consistantly been 18-22. Then it went to 23, followed by 45. My onc ran a bone scan to give me peace...it was ok. He wanted to see me in 3 months. I couldnt wait 3 months, so we did the TM again in 1 month. It was 16. I cried because I had been so sure...
More to the story:
Both my onc and his nurse had told me
repeatedly that this was normal. That it happens all the time. Happens all the time? Then why, when I asked our Her2+ group, where an enormous amount of Her2+ people come for support and answers...why did I not get one reply from someone who had a large rise in TMs, followed by a "normal" test?? Why not? If this happens "all the time?"
Coincidence?:
I also knew that on the day of the high tumor marker, the CA27.29 machine broke down and the blood work had to be sent somewhere else that day. To this day, I believe, but cannot prove, that something happened with my bloodwork... that it didn't get chilled properly, or whatever, which resulted in a lab error. BUT, I continued to reason, if that was the case, then why weren't there more lab results from other patients, that were not in the normal range? I will never know for sure.
And also:
I have quoted Dr. Pegram a number of times on this very issue, so my appologies for the repeat, but this is what he had to say (2007) about tumor markers:
Question to Dr. Pegram: What is your opinion of having markers done?
I do them. They’re not very good, but I do them once in a while. It’s about like the barometric pressure. “How’s the weather today?” Oh its 760 millimeters of mercury today; well that’s one atmosphere, so that tells you maybe it’s not high or low but it doesn’t tell you the temp, clouds, precip. So that’s exactly the analogy I would make of the tumor markers. They’re a piece of a puzzle; by themselves they’re virtually worthless. But I still give them.
Question: My CA27-29 #s have been in the normal range, but went down a little more after completing Herceptin. Might that possibly show that Herceptin had an effect?
They’re all in the normal range. It doesn’t mean a thing. Any bouncing around in the normal range doesn’t mean a thing. I don’t get impressed unless those things double on 2 separate occasions, back to back, a month apart. To impress me it would have to go from 20 to 40 to 80, then I’d say maybe something’s going on. That just means it’s time to take a look with some tests, but it’s not alarming. But 20 to 40 even, doesn’t get me excited. 40 doesn’t mean anything; 38 is the upper end of normal. So if it doesn’t double twice, then I’m unimpressed.[/I]
Me again:
And finally, are there benign reasons for tumor markers to elevate? I asked my onc and he really would not give me specifics, but he said, "Yes, there are many reasons that tumor markers can elevate. If they would get to 100, then I would want to do more testing."
When searching for "answers" I also came across this:
1: J BUON. 2007 Oct-Dec;12(4):487-92
Zervoudis S,
Peitsidis P,
Iatrakis G,
Panourgias E,
Koureas A,
Navrozoglou I,
Dubois JB.
Breast Department, "Lito" Maternity Hospital Athens and Ioannina University, Greece.
szervoud@otenet.gr
PURPOSE: To analyze, study and interpret the increased levels of tumor markers in breast cancer patients without recurrence or metastasis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We studied a series of 400 patients with stage 1 breast cancer during a 3-year follow-up after primary treatment. Follow-up included frequent serum estimation of CEA, CA 15.3, CA 125, CA 27-29, TPA and TPS tumor markers. RESULTS: Of 358 patients being continuously disease-free, 18 (5%) cases showed false-positive levels of tumor markers, associated with benign conditions and not to cancer recurrence or metastasis. These conditions included ovarian cysts, thyroid disorders, hepatitis, renal stone and sarcoidosis. CONCLUSION: The value of increased tumor markers should be interpreted cautiously because it doesn't always imply disease recurrence. Tumor markers may increase in many benign conditions.
PMID: 18067207 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Peace to you. You are in my prayers.