Is the CEA level important?

Gamma
Gamma Member Posts: 2
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi,

I'm reading some of your posts where you are sometimes worried when your CEA level is at 2.5.

A person in my family has a stage IV with liver mets. Docs found out her cancer this summer when she had ascite. Her CEA level was, before she starts chemo, more than 40 000 (yes, more than forty thousand). Her doc said it was an emergency she starts her treatment so she did two days later.
She started with Xeloda and after one time, her CEA dropped to 10000. After two chemio, it dropped to 5000. After 3, it dropped to 2000 but finally it stabilized and went up to 2500. So she started a new treatment: Folfox + Erbitux and after the first time, he CEA dropped again to 800. Erbitux seems to be quite good.

The doc said that CEA level is not very important, the most important is that it continues to drop. So he said that it's "better" to be at 40000 and it drops to 500 than being at 2 and it raises to 5 for example. he told us that some people live longer with CEA at 500 than people with CEA at 5. There are many other parameters to consider.

Other parameters are for example how the tumor looks like, if it is low-differentiated it's not good for example or if it is too infiltrating...

Did you onco tell you the same?

Comments

  • herdizziness
    herdizziness Member Posts: 3,624 Member
    #2
    CEA
    Each person is different as to whether the CEA count "counts". In my case, I was over 20,000 CEA, 6 months later I was down to somewhere around 7.8 if I remember correctly(I get it checked again next week to see where I stand). So the CEA has been a good indicator for me. Hell, I'd be scared if my CEA was hovering around 500 for the rest of my time and not going down. By going down for me, it meant my tumors were responding great to the chemo, and I had much less cancer then I started out with.
    As I said, each case is different, each person is different, not one fits all. So it may very well be not an indicator for your "person" in your family. It sounds though like it is continuing to drop, and that's a good thing.
    My onc, never mentioned your parameters, low-differentiation, etc., to me, he was pleased over the CEA count.
    Winter Marie
  • AnneCan
    AnneCan Member Posts: 3,673 Member
    #3
    Welcome Gamma
    Welcome to the forum. I am sorry someone in your family has been diagnosed with colon cancer. As for CEA, I am told it is a good indicator for some + not so good for others. Just today my onc said they don't go just by CEA, but if it is rising it can warrant a scan to see what if anything is happening. It is good that in your loved one's case the cCEA is dropping.
  • tootsie1
    tootsie1 Member Posts: 5,044 Member
    #4
    That's good
    The drop in CEA is a very good thing. Glad to have you on the forum, but so sorry about your loved one.

    *hugs*
    Gail
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #5
    This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • march07
    march07 Member Posts: 3
    #6
    For me, my CEA was
    For me, my CEA was determined not so important. I was 7.8 at diagnosis (stage IV) with a rectal lesion, many liver mets and hip mets. It's gotten as low as 0.9. I'd be a little careful of an MD saying that people might live longer with an initially high value versus a low one. It all depends on the individual and I don't think anyone would base a prognosis on an initial CEA.

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