frances wrote:Murray can you expand on the use of LDH w CEA and CA 19 pls?
Frances, LDH is not specific to or even necessarily related to colon cancer. There has been some studies showing correlations for prognostic information in operable colorectal cancer, however it is not something that is generally used.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16896001LDH usually is an indication of inflammation somewhere in the body and in my case my LDH was elevated (1400) at time of diagnosis due to the advancement of the CRC into other organs, hence a lot of inflammation going on. The high LDH prompted further tests. The level has dropped down into normal range once I started treatment so I just get it tested just for an overall monitor.
CEA and CA 19.9 are more specific to CRC with CEA being the preferred marker. The onc only really wants to check CEA every 1 or 2 months but I like to get it done every 2 weeks because it is good indicator for me.