Question about CEA levels

charelaine
charelaine Member Posts: 36
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
I had my resection done on Feb. 18 of this year. I am a stage III with 8 out of 12 lymph nodes involved. Anyway, for various reasons I didn't start chemo until April 10. Before surgery, my CEA was 11. After it was 3.9, 3.7, and now 4.5. My oncologist made have a CT scan when it was 3.9, because he didn't feel comfortable. It showed nothing, so I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Now it is up to 4.5, and he says he wants a PET scan. My surgeon is not alarmed and thinks that this is normal for CEA levels to go up during chemo. He feels confident there is nothing to find, and I trust this man, but I also trust my onc., and he is uncomfortable. The one thing that did show up in the CT scan was several cysts in my liver, but these are supposed to be normal, like moles on skin. What amount of stock do you guys put in CEA levels, and how have some of yours fluctuated? Just feeling you all out again to decide if I am normal. :)

Comments

  • AuthorUnknown
    AuthorUnknown Member Posts: 1,537 Member
    #2
    According to the my mother's oncologist, CEA levels do not mean anything unless they are high. They do not represent the real picture of what is going on. My mother had normal CEA level before her surgery while she had the 2nd stage carcinoma in sigmoid part of her colon which spread into her bladder. This doctor is chief of oncology in the hospital and a proffessor in Stanford university here in California.

    It seems to me that your oncologist is more to be trusted. It is better to be cautious and check everything rather than to assume that everything is all right. I think that having PET scan is an excellent idea.

    Best wishes, Eleonora
  • Betsydoglover
    Betsydoglover Member Posts: 1,248 Member
    #3
    Hi Charelaine -

    Take your oncologist's advice and get the PET scan - it is the best way to evaluate. And, realize that CEA is a funny thing - doesn't necessarily mean anything unless it is high. For me CEA has probably never been a good marker, although I'll never know because for reasons not worth discussing at this point, my pre-surgery CEA was ordered, blood drawn, but test never performed. Post surgery - even though I was known Stage IV - during chemo and since chemo, my CEA has remained at "<0.5". So, point is that CEA whether at 0 or a few points above it does not necessarily mean anything.

    I'd advise getting the PET scan - it adds another layer of "truth" on top of the CT and hopefully will relieve your concerns.

    Take care,
    Betsy
  • spongebob
    spongebob Member Posts: 2,565 Member
    #4
    charelaine -

    CEA doesn't mean much - there are a lot of discussions on CEA throughout the board. you might want to go down to the bottom of the page and enter "CEA" as a key word and do a search of the CRC site and see all of the discussions you can peruse.

    Bottom line; if I am not mistaken anything less than 5.0 is considered "normal". My CEA was never above 1.5 even when I had active disease state.

    Good that your onc is taking it seriously - but let him do the owrrying in this case - not you!

    Cheers

    - SpongeBob
  • CAMaura
    CAMaura Member Posts: 719 Member
    #5
    Hi there,
    And yes, there is a lot of hoohah on this site about CEA. Some bodies respond and present a marker inthe bloodstream which does act in a predictable manner; and some bodies do not. I am a lucky one...and I have cysts as well on my liver. My docs are happy with 0-3.0 for a normal CEA. There is bloodtest variation, but I am happy that you have more than one doc worrying for you. They can cover the boundaries and make sure you are okay. All the best to you - Maura - who is happy that her CEA has acted predictably!!

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