Hi, everyone. I am almost an 8 year survivor. I just ended Aromasin after being on it for 6 1/2 years.My blood work results just came back and I have slightly elevated tumor markers. My onc told me not to panic, emphasizing they were slightly abnormal. Normal being under 38, and mine were 67.9. Has anyone else had this issue.

Ironically, my tumor markers were all in a normal range when I first was diagnosed and I already had metastasis at the time so I take these results with a grain of salt. (CEA and CA 15-3 were the ones taken by my doc at that time) I think if a result goes into the 100s, that is definitely cause for me to be concerned.

When I started having elevated markers I started taking care to make things as consistent as possible for each test. I went to the same lab, I went in the afternoon (after lunch - no fasting needed), I made sure that I had lots to drink (no dehydration issue) and I was very careful with my veins (I try to space out my tests).

Oh these darn tumor markers! Mine have always fluctuated. They have always been on the high end of normal, but still in normal range. Mine have gone up 5 points then went back down. My oncologist has never been concerned about them, she says this is just what's normal for me. I'm so thankful to be 8 1/2 years out from diagnosis!

Normal is normal. In range is fine. If you had it drawn again today it might be 31 again. Lot’s of things can affect tumor markers. They look for a (sustained) climb out of range to worry about them. My CEA was frequently just over range and the doc was never thought it was any big deal. Benign causes of elevated CA 27-29 levels are as follows:

Unbeknownst to me, an integrative doc I visited regarding diet, exercise, etc. ran CA 15-3 and CA 27-29 tumor markers on my blood samples. My CA 27-29 came back well within normal range, but my CA 15-3 came back elevated at 35 (25 or lower is normal).

Hi, Many, sorry that you are dealing with this issue, and Goldie has the right advice! Is your onc suggesting a bone or pet scan?

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When tumor markers rise to indicate a possibility of a recurrence, they rise way above the normal range and keep rising. There's a post from a woman with metastatic disease whose treatment is working well: "In less than 2 months my CA 15-3 has gone from 1320 to 206."

Today they did blood work for tumor markers and two results CEA and AFP tumor markers came back normal but the CA 19-9 came back 60 (normal is under 35) and the CA125 came back 42 (normal is under 35). I have read that tumor markers can be unreliable. Is that true or not? Also don’t understand how to tests came back normal and two didn’t.