Pet or CT scan-which is better??

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farmgal
farmgal Member Posts: 22
in Colorectal Cancer #1
My husband's cea was 2.8 in March 2011. We were very surprised yesterday that it is now 4.9. Cancer Doctor wants to do repeat of bloodwork in 30 days and then do Pet scan if it is still high. We go back to surgeon in September and he always does the CT. Which scan would be better to find out what is wrong. We thought things were going good. Has anyone on the board had another illness to increase the cea besides CANCER. Appreciate any help in this matter.

farmgal

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  • steveandnat
    steveandnat Member Posts: 886
    #2
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    pet is more indepth
    I have heard that sometimes things like an infection may cause cea to go up. His cea number isn't real bad but if it keeps jumping up then a pet scan will check the whole body out. Pray it is just a temporary bump up and the next blood work shows it improving. Jeff
  • Nana b
    Nana b Member Posts: 3,030 Member
    #3
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    steveandnat said:

    pet is more indepth
    I have heard that sometimes things like an infection may cause cea to go up. His cea number isn't real bad but if it keeps jumping up then a pet scan will check the whole body out. Pray it is just a temporary bump up and the next blood work shows it improving. Jeff

    Pet picks up microscopic
    Pet picks up microscopic while the CT is visible to the eye. That is why a surgeon gets involved when it's picked up on the scan. My CEA is going up but nothing on pet or CT yet. I do have spot on pet but it's decreasing and they are not sure what it s yet. I find out on Tues results of my last CEA. Thyroid can affect CEA.
  • steved
    steved Member Posts: 834 Member
    #4
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    Neither are perfect
    Scans, tests etc all have limitations and you do need to rely on your specialists in deciding which is right for you at each stage. CT ultimately gives a picture of structures in the body and picks up abnormalities above a certain size. A PET scan looks at areas of the body with increased metabolic activity ie cancer cells have increased activity compared to normal cells so show up if there is a large enough collection of them to appear on teh scan. A PET will often involve a CT too so that areas of abnormal activity are mapped ontop of the structural pictures. Thus a PET ultiamtely gives more info but neither are perfect especially if tumours are very small.
    As otehrs say there are many reasons why CEA rise a little but it sounds like your team are being suitably thorough in checking out any sinister causes.
    steve

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