CA125 levels

Hi Glass not full

CA125 can go up and down for different reasons. Anything under 35 is considered normal. An increase in CA125 could indicate that cancer is becoming active.( although infections can cause it to go up a small amount)  A decrease would imply that treatment is being successful. 

I do not know my level before surgery but I know that during chemo that it only varied slightly and was always below 20. That would suggest that the surgery had removed the cancer and that the adjuvant chemo and radiotherapy was doing its job. If the level went up suddenly then that would suggest the need for a scan as could in some circumstances indicate the cancer was becoming active. 

However CA125 is not the full picture and is only an indicator. 

This is how it was explained to me. 

Jane

Thanks Jane.

Hmm perhaps I don’t need it checking then.

Ive had surgery 8 weeks ago and the surgeon reckons he got everything and stated “there was no further sign of disease” although it was a general surgeon who I’m guessing he wouldn’t be able to tell necessarily if it’s gynae related and also the cancer could be in cells which I also presume he wouldn’t necessarily be able to tell just by looking etc?

We’re not sure if chemo is going to be required or not yet. There is talk of a laparoscopy to take more biopsies etc and to confirm staging. However the surgeon who did the surgery is strongly advising any further surgery right now because of significant risk of complications etc.

Therefore I guess I was mainly wondering if CA125 might give some indication of whether there is any cancer remaining and if there isn’t, levels should be under 35 again.

Hi again,

Although the surgery was done by a general surgeon rather than gynae, the tissues removed would still have had detailed pathology done. In my case the surgeon was confident that he had removed the cancer as could see it within the womb when he removed it. He could also look in the area and they also tend to do a washing, this is where fluid is introduced into the area and checked for cancer cells. They would also check for LVSI- the tiny blood and lymph vessels leading from the womb- to see if cancer cells were present- this is done by the pathology. 

All of this means that they are sort of double checking everything. Staging can be looked at with further biopsies or scans. 

I would personally just ask for a routine blood test and to include CA125- just for some peace of mind for you. While it is only an indicator- it is useful- and if the level is very high then it maybe that you need the further investigations and possible further treatment but if it is normal then further treatment- if offered- would be adjuvant- to reduce recurrence risk. 

It is hard to know without knowing the full pathology. The thing I am not sure of is if there was any LVSI whether that would affect the CA125 levels immediately or whether it would only affect them if the tiny cells got on the move and set up elsewhere. 

If they are considering chemo then they would do the CA125 as a baseline but I would suggest just asking for a routine blood test- I did one via GP after treatment - for peace of mind. 

Jane

Thanks Jane.

Thats what I thought too but my gynae oncologist said in his letter to me that he has “no idea if there is cancer spread in the uterus or in my abdomen” which makes me think that these other tests weren’t done at the time? And it’s because he doesn’t know that the cancer can’t be staged either.

It was an ovarian tumour originally.

ill ask for the tests and then take it from there.