HE4 why so high but ca125 within low range

[Christinebetty]

I'm so confused. I've been reading so much and now I'm even more confused. My mom last CA-125 went down a bit to 21. She never had a high number and the lowest was 13. She was on hormone therapy. She developed a lot of ascites and they saw some evidence of disease growth. She is now on Doxil and avastin. Her HE4 shot up to 490 Should we have waited and just had her drained since everyone says to wait until disease has progressed too much? Some facilities don't use HE 4. How do we know what numbers are of concern

[chrissapam]

Hi, don't think HE4 is used much in the UK ....so we don't really know what to say(!) Sorry, hopefully we can help more with the other things .....love Chris xx

[judyved-US]

Hi Christine......I'm in the US. My doctor has never ordered the HE4 test.....only the ca125, but I do know a lady in another state who has the HE4 done along with the ca125. I don't know the significance of this test. Sorry I can't be of any help, but I wish your Mom the best.... Judyved

[Lizchips]

Hi, I'm in the United States, California actually. I my Dr doesn't just go by the CA 125 test, it's just an indicator. My Dr runs 4 different labs on me. I've been doing a lot of research. I was diagnosed in 2014, April. It's seems to help having stomach wash chemo, intraperitoneal chemotherapy. Keep vitamin C levels high. And for immune system , bone broth is supposed to help the body fight of cancer cells. City of Hope does a lot of innovative therapy. Best wishes,Liz