Had colon cancer and now CEA is rising: Scared

Thank you for your advise I greatly appreciate it.

MRI showed no signs of cancer, so just had a pet scan done, 3 areas lit up , a lymph node in the neck , a couple of lymph nodes in stomach area and a small lesion on liver. Next step is going for biopsy.

Hi @mary4elpo, did you have the biopsy done? How are you doing?

Had sigmoid colon cancer in 2013. CEA was 15.7 pre-op. Stage 2, no lymph node involvement. One lymph node was in question for 2 weeks, after which they determined that it was negative, (see pic). Oral Xeloda for 9 months. CT's clear. CEA dropped to 0.4. Fast forward to 2023, have some weight loss, around 10 lbs due to eating less. CEA has very slowly crept up to 2.0. Have had 4 consecutive rises in the past 2 years. Still within normal parameters, should I be concerned ?

Just a former cancer patient, not a expert.

Technically, 0-2.9 is normal per the Cleveland Clinic. From their web page:

What levels of CEA indicate cancer?
There’s no magic number or threshold for a CEA test that points to cancer. Healthcare providers don’t use the CEA test to screen for or diagnose cancer. In general, a CEA level of more than 2.9 ng/mL is considered abnormal but doesn’t necessarily mean that cancer is present.

I had a bump in my CEA levels and my oncologist reduced the surveillance scan and blood work interval from 6 to 4 months.

I think it merits continued surveillance, but not panic or worry,

Recommend discussion your oncologist - they're the expert.

@tirse, I think you will appreciate the responses from fellow members in these related discussions:
- Had colon cancer and now CEA is rising: Scared
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/colon-cancer-10-year-and-now-raised-cea/
- Worried about rising CEA levels
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/cea-levels/

I completely agree with @rjjacobsen, that your rise in CEA shouldn't be cause for alarm, but definitely something to monitor and to discuss a plan with your oncologist. When is your next follow up appointment?

Hi. My husband 40 ys. 3 years ago had colon cancer 3b. His cea was 84 and after surger and chemo reached to 1. After 1.5 years his cea started to elevate from 1 to 1.1 and 1.3 and 1.9, 2.2 2.5,2.9 and one month ago was 4. I am terrified. We did colonoscopy and removed two polyps and sono and CT. Apparently there is nothing wrong. But Dr recoomend to do PET also and we are waiting to do it. But for now do you think his cancer is coming back???? I am soooo worried

I wanted to add this process from cea from 1 to 4 took 1 year and about 3 months to reach to 4 and now after 1 month i dont know what the cea number is.
Also i wanted to apologize for my engliah if there is mistake beacause i dont live in US.

Hi - this was covered in a previous thread. Do not rely too much on CEA. Mayo Clinic doesn't even consider it as an issue unless it hits 20. Your numbers are still very low. , so I suggest you shouldn't be concerned. Ask her oncologist about the CTDNA which is more predictive and even better is the new Signatera tumor Informed DNA test, (which is made from your tumor but they may not have saved it), and which is covered by Medicare. Signatera can predict recurrence 10 months in the future. If you can't do these tests just go ahead with the CT He's probably going to be fine.

Thank you for your kind reply.
I am too worried because in many sites and essays on internet i've read
that even steady small increases within normal ranges is also a sign of
recurrence let alone in the next cea test it goes over normal ranges. I
dont know.
Then we live in iran, i dont know if they have that DNA test you mentioned
and i dont think we can have access to sample. I have to ask.
But for now yes we rely on CT and this week's PET SCAN.

Thanks a lot for your help