OvCa: 3mo f/u- NEW cancer tests!

I saw my gyn/onc today who told me that a third ovarian cancer test is now available. It's called the Ova1, and monitoring that plus the HE4 and the CA 125 all together means I can go 2 YEARS between CT scans, so long as I do these three lab tests every 3 months and they stay low! Less CT scans? Awesome! I also have a vaginal vault smear every 6 months.

As far as in California, these new tests are only done by Quest diagnostics. Not sure about other states. Here are the codes for Quest:

Ova1=16991
HE-4=16500
CA125=29256 (this one is old school)

Here's a link to WebMD talking about it too: http://www.webmd.com/ovarian-cancer/...cer-blood-test

My gyn/onc said the insurance may not cover these tests, yet, though. Not sure how expensive they will be.

is the HE-4 also for ovarian cancer.? I am for anything to have less ct scans.... I still have them every 6 months.

Yes, it is also for ovarian cancer!

Just had these 3 labs drawn again... All still normal, thank God. The HE-4 went down about 10 points and the CA-125 went up a point and the OVA1 went up a couple of tenths of a point... all still in the normal range. So, recheck again in 3 more months.

Interesting information. I asked my gyn/onc about the he4 and he didn't put a lot of faith into the results. I'll have to do some research into the he4 and ova1 because the ca125 is not a good indicator for me (31 pre-surgery, 3 after 4 rounds carbo/taxotere). Quest is my designated lab. Thanks so much for posting! I'd much rather give blood than go through too many scans.

When you say it's good for ov ca too, what else is it for?

When I said "also" I meant that it is also a test for OvCa, in addition to the HE-4 ....

oh, I get it,.....