Hi, this is a VERY FAVORITE TOPIC of mine that many here know I harp on...I have been using the CA 27/29 and the serial serum Her-2 markers for many years as biofeedback to the amount of herceptin I take and when. This is JUST my experience, but for the record....just keeping the CA 27/29 in the "NORMAL" range is NOT GOOD ENOUGH if you have or have ever had any HER-2 involvement. What you need to do is start charting both numbers on a regular basis (most labs like Quest or Labcorp will even make a charted graph of the numbers for you.) Again, it has been my experience that even when the CA 27/29 is as low as 17, the serum her-2 can be slightly elevated. Repeatedly (in YEARS worth of data and innumerable blood tests), only when my CA 27/29 is 10 or LESS!!! is my serum Her-2 in the normal range...INTERESTING...as long as the serum her-2 is high...you have activitity somewhere...often in a place that even a PET or other scan may not be able to register...AGAIN, this is JUST my experience...but I would love to hear from other folks out there who do take their numbers regularly while on Herceptin and see what THEIR experiences have been. Best to you, Gina
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