# Question about Tg and TgAb



## Jaimee (Aug 18, 2010)

Question about Tg and TgAb: Prior to thyroidectomy (Nov 4) my TgAb were 947. Dec 8 my TgAb were 305 and my Tg was <0.2... Now I had read on the thyca site about TgAb causing a false low Tg result and making it harder to gauge re occurrence. Is that what this is? If my TgAb continue to decrease, will that be a good marker for the cancer being gone? What has been your experience with this?


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

Jaimee said:


> Question about Tg and TgAb: Prior to thyroidectomy (Nov 4) my TgAb were 947. Dec 8 my TgAb were 305 and my Tg was <0.2... Now I had read on the thyca site about TgAb causing a false low Tg result and making it harder to gauge re occurrence. Is that what this is? If my TgAb continue to decrease, will that be a good marker for the cancer being gone? What has been your experience with this?


My input is that you just never want to see the TgAb and yours is going down nicely. I believe that is the "marker."

If you have no TgAB, then you should not get a "false" negative on the Tg.

If you have Tg, that means you still have thyroid tissue present.
http://www.thyca.org/thyroglobulin.htm

Good question. I love it when folks use their brain cells. LOL!!

Hugs,


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## Jaimee (Aug 18, 2010)

Thanks! Ok, so just to clarify... As long as my TgAb continues to go down over time... and the Tg doesn't start to go up after that (particularly after RAI), it will be considered accurate... Right?


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

Jaimee said:


> Thanks! Ok, so just to clarify... As long as my TgAb continues to go down over time... and the Tg doesn't start to go up after that (particularly after RAI), it will be considered accurate... Right?


That sounds right to me. Since you had RAI, you don't want to see Tg either because if you do, that means the RAI was not complete. You have Tg "only" if there is thyroid tissue present.

On the long-term, you would expect to not see either anymore.


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## Hope57 (Sep 16, 2010)

Hi Jaimee & Andros,
Jaimee, did you have hashimoto's? My endo told me that because i had hashi, the autoimmune disease doesn't just go away and this can, cause tg to give a high reading. He said some people with hashi are lucky that it stays at 0, but alot of us have to then have ultrasound and maybe another low dose RAI and scan just to confirm. Im due have my tg checked in 4 weeks, RAI was 3 weeks ago, so im keeping my fingers crossed all is well. It costs $2,000 for thyrogen injection so i hope i dont have to have frequent scans because of high tg.


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## Jaimee (Aug 18, 2010)

Hope57 said:


> Hi Jaimee & Andros,
> Jaimee, did you have hashimoto's? My endo told me that because i had hashi, the autoimmune disease doesn't just go away and this can, cause tg to give a high reading. He said some people with hashi are lucky that it stays at 0, but alot of us have to then have ultrasound and maybe another low dose RAI and scan just to confirm. Im due have my tg checked in 4 weeks, RAI was 3 weeks ago, so im keeping my fingers crossed all is well. It costs $2,000 for thyrogen injection so i hope i dont have to have frequent scans because of high tg.


Yes I did have hashimoto's. I don't know why, but I thought if I had my thyroid out that would go away. Maybe because there is still small amounts of tissue present? Hopefully after RAI it will go down significantly. I just was a little concerned about not being able to use the Thyroglobulin results as an accurate marker for recurrence. I guess if they see that the antibodies stay or become high, that could also be a marker? I understand the money!!! I have a stack of bills right now from tests and surgery last year and now soon from RAI/thyrogen/scan/etc.


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