CEA question

fatmomma
fatmomma Member Posts: 95
in Colorectal Cancer #1
I really don't understand the CEA thing. I told my mother to ask what hers was. The doctor told her that it's always been normal. What's consider normal? Do they go by this see see how bad the cancer is?
FM

Comments

  • Nana b
    Nana b Member Posts: 3,030 Member
    #2
    Normal is usually under 5.
    Normal is usually under 5. I've heard 3 or under for a non smoker. My CEA after surgery was 150. Some ave in the 10 thousandths. We are all different. You ONC will probably monitor your CEA AT CHEMO TIME. I had lab drawn before each chemo.
  • steveandnat
    steveandnat Member Posts: 886
    #3
    Thought CEA has to do with aggresiveness
    Not sure but I was told it has something to do with the aggressiveness of the tumors. The higher the number the more aggressive. I think when you get dx at first the count is usually higher. When I got dx in Jun 09 mine was 630 then after several treatments it eventually came all the way down to 3.6 in Jul. In Oct it went to 5 but the onc said that was okay. This stuff is very confusing. Hang in there.
    Jeff
  • Lovekitties
    Lovekitties Member Posts: 3,364 Member
    #4
    Not the same for all
    For some folks the rise and fall of the CEA marker is a good indicator of spread or lessening of the cancer. For some the CEA count never changes much regardless of the state of their cancer.

    It sounds like for your mother, the CEA marker does not register.

    The CEA numbers can also be influenced by other things such as dead cancer cells or some sort of infection...as well as smoking.

    So while the CEA may be an fair 'indicator' for some, it is not for all.

    Marie who loves kitties
  • Liz2011
    Liz2011 Member Posts: 15
    #5
    Not an indicator for some
    Indeed, for some the CEA remains stable and cannot help monitoring the effectiveness of chemo. For others - like my mum - it is a very good indicator. She started in the 20s and is now over 100 unfortunately. When chemo was working on the tumours it went down then when treatment stopped working it rose sharply :(
    For your mum the doctors will probably have to rely on the scans to check progress. Other blood results can help too, such as the liver enzymes if mets in the liver.
    Hope this helps! Liz
  • janderson1964
    janderson1964 Member Posts: 2,215 Member
    #6
    Liz2011 said:

    Not an indicator for some
    Indeed, for some the CEA remains stable and cannot help monitoring the effectiveness of chemo. For others - like my mum - it is a very good indicator. She started in the 20s and is now over 100 unfortunately. When chemo was working on the tumours it went down then when treatment stopped working it rose sharply :(
    For your mum the doctors will probably have to rely on the scans to check progress. Other blood results can help too, such as the liver enzymes if mets in the liver.
    Hope this helps! Liz

    i AGREE. This is the third
    i AGREE. This is the third time in 6 years that they found cancer. Each time there was a known tumor in me and all of the years in between my CEA has alwasys been belos 2 sometimes as low as .5. This was a false sense of security for years for me until I found out that CEA is not a good tumor marker for everyone. I was told about a new test calle Onko-Sure that was was just approved by the FDA for colon cancer that is supposed to test 12 different markers and be much more effective for survivors whoses CEA doesn't matter. I wish I had known that a year ago then maybe I wouldn't have this 8.5cm tumor on my liver that has to be resected again!!!!!!!!!!
  • fatmomma
    fatmomma Member Posts: 95
    #7
    janderson1964 said:

    i AGREE. This is the third
    i AGREE. This is the third time in 6 years that they found cancer. Each time there was a known tumor in me and all of the years in between my CEA has alwasys been belos 2 sometimes as low as .5. This was a false sense of security for years for me until I found out that CEA is not a good tumor marker for everyone. I was told about a new test calle Onko-Sure that was was just approved by the FDA for colon cancer that is supposed to test 12 different markers and be much more effective for survivors whoses CEA doesn't matter. I wish I had known that a year ago then maybe I wouldn't have this 8.5cm tumor on my liver that has to be resected again!!!!!!!!!!

    thanks
    thank you all for responding. You guys are a great group of people. I think you all know as much (if not more) than the doctors. FM
  • Annabelle41415
    Annabelle41415 Member Posts: 6,742 Member
    #8
    Marker
    CEA marker is not always accurate and some doctors won't even take it because it doesn't always mean anything. More reliable sources for checking to see if cancer is back is the CT and PET scans.

    Kim

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