I am on Herceptin/ Perjeta for over four years. Recently, my CA 15-3 claimed to 240. Does it necessarily mean that immunotherapy is not potent anymore?Anyone has experience?
I am triple positive stage 4. My oncologist claims that it is unreliable.
If anyone has experience, please share, I may be worrying in vain.
Many doctors don’t rely on tumor markers. However, in my case they are extremely reliable. Every time they go up I have had progression. My gut told me something was going on, but my doctor ignored it. After changes in my side effects, finally my family doctor took over and ordered an endoscopy. My stomach lining was covered in small tumors and I changed meds. Listen to your gut, get a second opinion if you think you are not being heard. Our doctors are not infallible. Be your own advocate. We moved not long after that episode and my new doctor depends heavily on tumor markers. Good luck with your journey.
Did it climb by a large percentage? Do you get regular scans? If not, I’d get a scan. If you do get scans every three months, you can probably wait til the next one. I think by themselves, increased markers may not be totally reliable, but are an indicator that it would be good to follow up with a scan. In my experience, increasing markers were meaningful.
It has been my experience at the CA 15-3 is unreliable for me personally.
At one point, my markers had slowly risen to 500 and my PET scan showed progression, so was put on a new treatment plan (XELODA) and every four weeks my markers dropped by 100 points. I was so confident going into my scan that I would see much improvement in my bone mets. However, that was not the case I had in multiple places, I was my treatment was changed yet again. I am now on IV chemo and have seen my CA 15–3 markers make minor fluctuations up and down weekly.
I’ve had some increased pain in my bones recently, and we move my pet scan up to last Friday. I was pretty sure I’d have progression again, but that was not the case. All my Mets have reduced in uptake. It’s become clear that. scans are the only reliable measurement for me.
As others here have already stated, if you are experiencing an uptake in your tumor markers, a scan is likely in order.
I hope this is just blip on your radar and wish you continued success on your healing journey.
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