Please - I would love some positive vibes for my DH tomorrow. Thank You!
Hubby had an appointment for a checkup CT-scan on June 21st. When we arrived at the hospital we learned that the scanner had broken down and July 3rd is the new date for the CT-scan. Sigh... another Scanxiety will happen We did have an appointment with the Onc though and she said she was pleased with the blood tests taken recently. But of course I know that the CT is what really matters.
About CA19-9.
My husband’s CEA has never been elevated so probably not a Good indicator for him.. (before surgery his CEA was 2.5 and after it has been around 1.5 - never been above 2) but CA19-9 has reacted. Before surgery it was 78. Then it went down to 48 and then 29 and after that it has been around 28-35. His CA19-9 test results has been, from Nov 30 2016 to June 18 2018 “36, 35, 36, 33, 33, 28, 37, 28, 28, 35, 31.”. (Our Lab’s ref value now is <31). Can someone please share knowledge if this 28-35’ish’ could be OK for a man with a kidney function problem? I have read that kidney function can make a difference.
rp1954 has written about CA19-9 and that a much lower(!) value is what you want to see! I do want to see that but I wonder if this kidney problem my husband has means that his CA19-9 will never go down to that optimal level?
This is what I have read. for example:
“Serial monitoring of CA 19.9 levels is useful to follow up patients after surgery and those who are receiving chemotherapy for advanced disease [81]. In the literature, there are discordant data regarding CA 19.9 during renal disease. Filella et al. and Zeferos et al. did not notice differences in patients with chronic renal failure compared to normal subjects [62, 63] while Xiaofang et al. [65] and Arik et al. found increased levels of CA 19.9 in chronic kidney disease patients. Therefore, the use of this marker is not recommended in patients with impaired renal function [17].”
From (2014) https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2014/647541/