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CEA level rising during chemotherapy

moham
moham CSN Member Posts: 2
edited March 2018 in Colorectal Cancer #1

Hello,

My mother diagnosed with colon cancer stage 3B, 5 months ago.

Her 11th term of chemotherapy (out of 12) scheduled on this Wednesday. Something is not normal in her blood tests before each chemotherapy session. Her CEA level before surgery was 7 and after surgery has kept rising steadily.

It has reached 16, last time, and We are too concerned.

Her oncologist suggested a PET scan which would take place on this Sunday.

As long as I understood, rising CEA level during chemotherapy is common (Other cancer indicators like CA19-9 is normal). I like to hear your experience.

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Comments

  • Trubrit
    Trubrit CSN Member Posts: 5,808 Member
    #2
    Ah, CEA

    It can be predictive for some but not others. Your mum might be one of the 'others'. 

    My Oncologist refused to order a CEA during my treatments as he said that they were not reliable due to the chemicals. 

    I hope the PET goes well, and shows no uptake. 

    Tru

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  • DD3
    DD3 CSN Member Posts: 136 Member
    #3
    Hmmm

    I have to agree with Tru...  When my wife was intially diagnosed her CEA was 1.9 or something.  They tested her during chemo it was up.  After all was said and done, she was NED.  Good luck on the PET.  

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  • Mikenh
    Mikenh CSN Member Posts: 777 Member
    #4
    Mine rises every cycle. It

    Mine rises every cycle. It stops rising when I take a break.

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  • peterz54
    peterz54 CSN Member Posts: 341
    #5
    here's a paper on CEA which should help

    https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/82bf/921cadc64225c0db681d7f0e2281bb7cbd02.pdf

    An excerpt:   In a study of 358 patients who presented to surgery with a diagnosis of colon cancer, only 4% of patients with stage I disease had an elevated CEA (> 5 ng/mL), whereas 25%, 44%, and 65% of patients with stage II, III, and IV disease, respectively, had abnormal levels.


    Two or three measurements, especially when very low, do not establish a trend in my experience.  My wife started out with a CEA of 1800 beiing stage IV with a lot of liver mets.   chemo did bring  it down, but it never went below a 1000.  

    If there are other cancer markers use them as well. 

    My personal opinion is that everyone should be checking HbA1c, glucose, hsCRP, and insulin to make sure they optimized (low) as metabolic syndorme and diabetes are rampant in America and highly correlated with cancer, including cancer recurrence.  Excerise and stress control are very important as well and often not considered, much less tracked. 

     

     

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  • Annabelle41415
    Annabelle41415 CSN Member Posts: 6,744 Member
    #6
    CEA

    It's hard to tell.  CEA is not real reliable and mine was always normal.  In many cases it can rise during treatment.  It's good if they could get a PET scan just to see if there is any need for concern.  Wishing your mother well.

    Kim

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  • moham
    moham CSN Member Posts: 2
    #7
    Her PET scan is clean

    We got the result yesterday. Her PET/CT scan is clean and there is not evidence of met.

    Thank you all.

     

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  • Phil64
    Phil64 CSN Member Posts: 838 Member
    edited March 2018 #8
    moham said:

    Her PET scan is clean

    We got the result yesterday. Her PET/CT scan is clean and there is not evidence of met.

    Thank you all.

     

    Wonderful news!

    Wonderful news! Congratulations! 

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  • Annabelle41415
    Annabelle41415 CSN Member Posts: 6,744 Member
    #9
    That's Great News

    That is really greats news.  Time to celebrate and take a big sigh of relief.  Wonderful.

    Kim

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