AFP question

[sldl1106]

These few posts with Tammy and Dawn have me wondering -

Does anyone know what Sloan and Indiana use as a baseline for "normal" AFP? Rob's AFP was 14 two weeks before his surgery, and that was the last blood test that he received, which was also four weeks after his last round of chemo. So, as far as we knew, it was still dropping on its own.

But there was a "dot" of live cancer left, which Sheinfeld removed during surgery. (I'm wondering if that could be possible with so low of an AFP)

Sloan said they considered >15 a good number for sugery. But what do they consider a normal AFP, versus Indiana's normal? I know that different hospitals use different numbers.

If anyone knows, thank you!! PS - Rob may be able to go home in two days! That will be three weeks exactly.

[DAWN82]

Brians Dr. told us that his HCG needs to be close to zero in order for them to do the surgery. I also heard that 15 was the amount for surgery, but i am thinking that is not true because his Dr. said he wanted his HCG lower

Now i am confused too
can someone help clarify mine and stacy's confusion


Dawn

[Margaret]

I do not want to add to the confusion..but I thought under 6 was "normal" for AFP. Under .5 HCG is what our doctor says is 'normal'. We were told at SK that they would do the surgery if the AFP was under 15 for AFP. Above 15 and no surgery.

[mstlyn]

My understanding is this.

All the labs that have done markers for Anthony show a slightly different reference range for normal.

Quest normal range for AFP is <6.1 ng/mL

Quest normal range for HCG is <5 mIU/mL

Hurley Medical Center normal AFP range is <5.5

Hurley Medical Center normal HCG range is (this is what the sheet says)

"Healthy males or non-preg. female show values less than 25

Im not sure it its supposed to be .25 and maybe it didnt print out on the sheet.

U of M normal range for AFP is 0.0 - 7.9 NG/ML
U of M normal range for HCG is nondetectable to 5 mIU/mL


My understanding is that certain things other than cancer can cause an elevated AFP or HCG, so some universities or cancer centers do not assume that the cause of the elevation is from cancer until it reaches a certain point. I think Indianas point is 20

If Im wrong someone correct me, but this is how I understand it to be