Can someone explain how the CEA numbers work?

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  • skeets1961
    skeets1961 Member Posts: 56
    #22
    My husband's CEA was over 500

    My husband's CEA was over 500 (no decimals) when he was first diagnosed last October.  During one visit, the Onc told us not to rely on that number too much.  Three months of the folfox and his scan showed it didnt work and the cancer had grown.  He's now on a new cocktail which he's had three times already.  The dr pointed out last chemo day that his CEA numbers (after one treatment of the new chemo) went down 150 pts and seemed happy about it.  With the folfox, it would only go down 20-40 pts each time.  so we've learned not to put too much into the CEA numbers. I guess we'll see with the next scan.

  • zx10guy
    zx10guy Member Posts: 273 Member
    #23
    There are a couple of

    There are a couple of different testing methodologies for CEA.  One testing methodology has normal for non smokers to be 0 to 3.  The other has the range from 0 to 5.  In addition, there are variations with each lab which may change the upper limits of the normal range.  The hospital lab my oncologist uses had 0 to 3 as the normal range but recently changed their testing to have 0 to 5.1 as normal.  So comparing numbers here with others don't really mean much unless you know what the normal range is for the lab you are using.

    In addition, oncologists focus on a general trend.  If your CEA numbers are creaping up over time, this would be a cause of concern for the oncologist at which time a scan would probably be ordered.  I had a scare a year ago when my CEA came back almost 1 point higher than my previous reading.  A follow up CEA was done about a week or so later which showed a pretty significant drop.  The drop resolved my fear that there was something going on.

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