Timer grading

[EZSZ]

I've seen a mentioning of tumor grade numbers, 27-35.

Can anyone explain please what it means?

Thank you

[Topood]

I know there are numbered tumor markers, from 15 to maybe 29 in my experience, and blood tests can tell you how many of those are in your blood, which is an indication of the presence of cancer in your body....but I don’t know anything about grade numbers...could they be the same thing?

[EZSZ in reply to Topood]

Girlsptz gave an excellent, detailed explanation. See above. It's the first time I hear that breast cancer can be detected in the blood. I wish, we all do, so the answer provided above is probably right, not reliable. Yet, good to know.

[MaryCos in reply to Topood]

Tumor grades (as far as I can tell/have learned as a newbie) range from 1-3. A 3 is the most aggressive, fast-spreading cancers. I am a "2" according to my medical records. Umm... so this is a staging thing as opposed to tumor markers, which are the blood tests to determine cancer load in the body.

[AnnaP668 in reply to MaryCos]

FYI range is 1-4, btw.

[MaryCos in reply to AnnaP668]

According to this...

Three cancer cell features are studied and each is assigned a score. The scores are then added to get a number between 3 and 9 that is used to get a grade of 1, 2, or 3, which is noted on your pathology report. Sometimes the terms well differentiated, moderately differentiated, and poorly differentiated are used to describe the grade instead of numbers:

Grade 1 or well differentiated (score 3, 4, or 5). The cells are slower-growing, and look more like normal breast tissue.

Grade 2 or moderately differentiated (score 6, 7). The cells are growing at a speed of and look like cells somewhere between grades 1 and 3.

Grade 3 or poorly differentiated (score 8, 9). The cancer cells look very different from normal cells and will probably grow and spread faster.

cancer.org/cancer/breast-ca...

[MaryCos in reply to AnnaP668]

And this: breastcancernow.org/informa...

[AnnaP668 in reply to MaryCos]

Sorry, I was thinking of staging which is 1-4. Thanks for the carification.

[MaryCos in reply to AnnaP668]

Had a feeling you may have been referring to that. (Although, I did check first to see if I was wrong on how many grades there are!)

🙂

[EZSZ]

Thank you Sandra. Of course I meant tumor, but didn't have glasses and the autocorrect...I am triple positive. I'm 63. Only two months of learning to accept this life-changing diagnosis.

Thanks for the detailed information. I like to learn asap about the disease and be proactive, so if anyone is triple positive and can share information, please do.

Best,

DK

[Beryl71]

I had CA 125 and CA 15-3 monitored. And something called CEA although they've stopped mentioning that. The CA 125 dropped from 42 to 14 quite quickly which they said was in normal limits, and my CA15-3 has reduced from 436 to 112 over 10 months. I understood it needed to go below 40 to be in normal range? But it's heading in the right direction and I feel very well. Fingers crossed. But I'm learning a lot reading these posts!

[EZSZ in reply to Beryl71]

Thanks for sharing. Me too