What's your experience been with CTC tests?

[Sk72]

Hi everyone

I'm Sunitha, was diagnosed with 3b epithelial high grade ovarian cancer in Nov last; been through debulking and six rounds of chemo; on follow up Avastin. Have my next PET scan in October.

I'm seeing an integrated oncologist (recommended by my gynac onco) who told me about a Circulating Tumour Cells blood test that can help predict a recurrence at an early stage.

Have any of you had this offered to you? And if so, is there a real benefit (in addition to ultrasounds and PET scans).

Thank you!

[LovemyJackRussell]

This is not something I have heard of, but as a blood test is a very simple thing to have I would say go for it, it can't do any harm.

[Sk72 in reply to LovemyJackRussell]

Thank you

[wendydee]

I think it sounds good. I’d definitely go for it. The more information you have, the more your treatment can be tailored and timed to it. It seems your medical team are looking after you very well. All the best xx

[Sk72 in reply to wendydee]

Thank you Wendy - am amazed at the amount of warmth people have here for strangers. I'm glad I came here.

[bamboo89]

I'm not sure how useful that test would be - it might say you have circulating cancer cells, but that doesn't mean you have a recurrence, so what are you going to do with that information other than just sit and worry about it? If/when a recurrence happens, then a decision has to be made as to when you treat it - immediate treatment may not be recommended, they may prefer you to wait until treatment is essential. After all, chemotherapy and other drugs are toxic to the body, so will only be used when essential for the sake of your overall health, so unless you're being told that, if there are circulating cells, there's something useful that can be done about it, I don't really see the point of the test.

[Sk72 in reply to bamboo89]

Thank you - I also want to say I'm feeling a lot of gratitude for you because I looked at your other posts and chanced on the Jane Mclelland reference which took me to a whole bunch of other interesting stuff. Did you do the COC protocol kind of stuff? And did it help?

[bamboo89 in reply to Sk72]

I did have a consultation with COC which was quite informative. I couldn't follow the whole protocol because of allergies and other meds I have to use, but it was interesting to find out, for instance, that my regular use of Ranitidine (now withdrawn) and loratidine also discouraged cancer. However, I'm almost at the 7 year point and, having finished a recent course of more chemo which didn't work very well (mostly because my body did not tolerate the gemcitabine), I have been told I likely have about six months left unless I take the last ditch treatment of weekly taxol for six months. I don't want to do that, and it only has a 20% chance of working anyway, so I've decided to let nature take its course... hopefully not requiring taxol to try to control pain or something. I was stage 4b at diagnosis, so I've done quite well I think, but the rest of me is falling apart anyway because of other health conditions - I need a new body!. Good luck with your journey.

[Sk72 in reply to bamboo89]

Thank you for your generosity - I wish I had more than a virtual hug to send your way. Will hold you in my thoughts. Wishing you peace.

[bamboo89 in reply to Sk72]

Thank you so much for that 💗

[Pianoplayer731021 in reply to bamboo89]

So sorry to see that you have gone through so much. Just sending you a hug and will keep you in my thoughts for a good outcome hopefully. Stay strong and keep the faith. 😊

[purfekt10]

I have been having circulating tumor blood tests for two years through a company called Signatera. It can determine if cancer cells are present in the blood before they show up on scans. So far, the testing has been accurate.

[kcha237 in reply to purfekt10]

Hello, curious if you know what you might do with the information if the test detects circulating cancer cells? can this improve the outlook for early treatment of recurrence?

[purfekt10 in reply to kcha237]

I will have more frequent testing. I see my oncologist next week and we'll talk about the latest results.

[Sk72 in reply to purfekt10]

Thank you, that helps

[Pawpaw22]

Hi Sunitha. My history is almost the same as yours except I am 80 years old. I started on Avastin and a few weeks was started on Olaparib (Lynparza in Australia). I did not tolerate this combination and stopped both Avastin and Olaparib. I will go on watch and wait every three months. I woul go for whatever test suggested, anythng that adds to your information is reassuring. Wish you luck.

[Sk72 in reply to Pawpaw22]

Thank you It feels so lovely to be connected with women across the world. I wish you all the best.

I've been reading up a lot on metabolic oncology the last couple of days and the use of off label drugs like Metformin in combination with Avastin and two others. Looks like there's promise there for us.

[PyjamaDay]

Hello, I've heard about this being offered in relation to breast cancer recurrence (theguardian.com/society/art... but not OC. Interested to hear it's been suggested to you, and wonder if it's an OC specific version?

[Sk72 in reply to PyjamaDay]

Hi there....from what I can read it doesn't appear to be specific for any cancer and that while it shows promise, it needs more research. Which seems to be true of most treatments I read about

[Newbery3]

Hi 👋 sounds interesting, I've not heard of it but if it's a blood test then I'd be happy to have it as its not an evasive treatment and you can keep watch x

[Sk72 in reply to Newbery3]

Thank you I'll post my results here when I have them

[Pianoplayer731021]

I haven’t heard of this test either. Hopefully this blood test will help with accurate results. 😊