Which is a more accurate predictor of metastasis: CEA or ctDNA?

@diamonds, this is a question that cancer experts and researchers have also studied. Here is the conclusion of a recent study (2022).

- Evaluation of Comparative Surveillance Strategies of Circulating Tumor DNA, Imaging, and Carcinoembryonic Antigen Levels in Patients With Resected Colorectal Cancer https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8905389/

EXCERPT
"Question
Is serial analysis of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) associated with improved sensitivity and earlier detection of recurrence compared with standard imaging and evaluation of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels per National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines in patients with resected colorectal cancer?

Findings
In this cohort study of 48 patients with resected colorectal cancer, 15 had confirmed disease recurrence by imaging, of whom only 8 had a concurrent positive ctDNA finding. The combination of imaging and CEA measurement had better sensitivity compared with ctDNA in identifying disease recurrence (73.3% vs 53.3%).

Meaning
The findings of this cohort study suggest that ctDNA assay provides no definitive advantage compared with standard imaging and CEA measurement in the surveillance of patients with resected colorectal cancer."

Diamonde, what has been your experience?

See more recent study

Every person's cancer is different. When I was diagnosed on 7/21/21 my CEA was 2.4. Today I am NED and it's now 1.4. I had 8 negative Signateras while knowing I had a lung nodule. Then I had a slight positive (0.04) and my CT scan showed the nodule was getting bigger and 2 smaller ones were found. I had them all cryoablated last summer 2023 and since then my last 5 Signateras have all been negative. Are you in Colontown? I highly recommend joining it: http://www.colontown.org

Buenas coincido con usted, el cáncer es diferente para cada persona, que significa que es NED me podrías decir.

Bendiciones y que sigas así mejorando en sus resultados.