CA125 has not gone down

[Guest Posts]

My CA125 has not gone down after first chemo, I'm very worried it's not going to respond. I am stage 1c grade 1 and also have a pulmonary embolism and my tummy is black and blue from the injections, not sure if this could make it stay up?

Should I be worried?

Thanks, Jill

[Professor Ahmed Ahmed]

I am very sorry to hear about your troubles. CA125 is a very good test for monitoring response to chemotherapy. A reduction of CA125 after the first cycle would have been nice to have, but it is not unusual for such a decline to happen only after two to three cycles. CA125 can be increased by many factors and this is probably why you are wondering whether the injections are preventing the decline. It is difficult to say for sure whether or not the effect of the injections that you are having is interfering with the decline of CA125 level. You have an early stage and early grade tumour which is reassuring in itself. I hope that your treatment will be successful.