› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Stage 4 high LDH levels
- This topic has 9 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 7 months ago by rick1981.
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- July 2, 2014 at 3:32 am
Hello-
After my father in law noticed a small lump on his side in spring of 2013 his GP doctor told him to watch it. Fast forward to January 2014 and he had the lump removed. It was a melanoma tumor the size of a softball. Scans later reviewed he had lung mets along with additional spots on his spine, bone, liver, splean, and abdomin. They did one round of Ipi before learning he had a BRAF mutation. He was put on the Mek combo and his LDH levels seemed to return to normal in April, may & June after being in the mid 700's. Two weeks ago he had an onc appointment and although his scans showed to be mostly stable he had two soft tissue spots grow on his right side and his LDH level was back to mid 700's. The onc started him on Ipi today, but his blood work showed almost a 900 LDH level. My concern now is he is already in so much pain (on morphine and delada) with it so far progressed I don't know if he will be around to see if the Ipi had worked. We have a great melanoma oncologist at a great facility I'm just concerned it's too late.
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- July 8, 2014 at 11:00 pm
My understanding from my mum's experience (her LDH level was in the mid 1000's by the time she found out she had stage iv mestastised) is that LDH levels are an indication of cell growth. They aren't reliable but can be an indication that something is going on. LDH levels fluctuate during chemo because cells are being killed and good cells, as well as bad sometimes, are regrowing/growing. If someone has a high LDH level then, in my opinion things should be getting looked at closer, especially if the patient has had melanoma in the past such as my mum did.
In saying that it doesn't always mean anything bad.
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- August 5, 2014 at 8:12 am
After 7 weeks on dabrafenin & trametinib my wife's LDH values kept decreasing to close to 400. Yesterday she had her latest results: "partial response" on the CT scan, so good news. The doctor said the blood also looked good, but I noticed that LDH values actually increased to 600+. I didn't want to spoil the good news moment so I didn't ask, but the increased LDH worries me as it typically signals tumor growth.
However, I read just now that an increased LDH value can be positive -> that they signal increased liver activity because the liver is busy processing/thrashing dead tumor cells? Does that make sense? Can it be a positive thing?
Thanks for your advice. And yes, I'll ask the doctor too next time ๐
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- August 5, 2014 at 8:12 am
After 7 weeks on dabrafenin & trametinib my wife's LDH values kept decreasing to close to 400. Yesterday she had her latest results: "partial response" on the CT scan, so good news. The doctor said the blood also looked good, but I noticed that LDH values actually increased to 600+. I didn't want to spoil the good news moment so I didn't ask, but the increased LDH worries me as it typically signals tumor growth.
However, I read just now that an increased LDH value can be positive -> that they signal increased liver activity because the liver is busy processing/thrashing dead tumor cells? Does that make sense? Can it be a positive thing?
Thanks for your advice. And yes, I'll ask the doctor too next time ๐
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- August 5, 2014 at 8:12 am
After 7 weeks on dabrafenin & trametinib my wife's LDH values kept decreasing to close to 400. Yesterday she had her latest results: "partial response" on the CT scan, so good news. The doctor said the blood also looked good, but I noticed that LDH values actually increased to 600+. I didn't want to spoil the good news moment so I didn't ask, but the increased LDH worries me as it typically signals tumor growth.
However, I read just now that an increased LDH value can be positive -> that they signal increased liver activity because the liver is busy processing/thrashing dead tumor cells? Does that make sense? Can it be a positive thing?
Thanks for your advice. And yes, I'll ask the doctor too next time ๐
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- July 8, 2014 at 11:00 pm
My understanding from my mum's experience (her LDH level was in the mid 1000's by the time she found out she had stage iv mestastised) is that LDH levels are an indication of cell growth. They aren't reliable but can be an indication that something is going on. LDH levels fluctuate during chemo because cells are being killed and good cells, as well as bad sometimes, are regrowing/growing. If someone has a high LDH level then, in my opinion things should be getting looked at closer, especially if the patient has had melanoma in the past such as my mum did.
In saying that it doesn't always mean anything bad.
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- July 8, 2014 at 11:00 pm
My understanding from my mum's experience (her LDH level was in the mid 1000's by the time she found out she had stage iv mestastised) is that LDH levels are an indication of cell growth. They aren't reliable but can be an indication that something is going on. LDH levels fluctuate during chemo because cells are being killed and good cells, as well as bad sometimes, are regrowing/growing. If someone has a high LDH level then, in my opinion things should be getting looked at closer, especially if the patient has had melanoma in the past such as my mum did.
In saying that it doesn't always mean anything bad.
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