Worried about rising CEA levels

I'm just shy of 5 years. Seven months ago my CEA was 1.9. Yesterday was 7.9. Sort of freaking out.

Hi @bobbywood427 @revcindy @sockwelljames,

I wanted to let you know that I moved both your messages about CEA levels to this existing discussion so that you can meet other Connect members who are discussing the same. If you click VIEW & REPLY in the email notification, you can read through the past messages and post any questions you may have.

I’m also tagging @diannechildress @martid @ilene1 @soul @brglight @nannytart @bush @sallyg @starrlight and @joannem – a few other members who may also have experience with fluctuating CEA levels. @revcindy, I’ve copied some member insights about CEA levels from this very conversation...I hope this will help ease your worries. Here’s what Connect members are saying:

– The American Association for Clinical Chemistry. https://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/cea/tab/test/ states “Increased CEA levels can indicate some non-cancer-related conditions, such as inflammation, cirrhosis, peptic ulcer, ulcerative colitis, rectal polyps, emphysema, and benign breast disease.”
– @travelgirl: "I was told they check the CEA as a marker but it really is not a good indicator of cancer.”
– @sallyg: "This number makes me very nervous but it is really only another tool and I have found other things can cause it to rise like a dental infection or even a sinus infection so I try my best not to get too anxious when there is a spike upwards.”
– @diannechildress: "The results of my CT scan were good. There was nothing to indicate the rise in CEA levels..."

Well my mom had colon cancer. It was only in her liver at the time of diagnosis. Her cea at the tine was 41. Her oncologist didn't repeat her cea for two months after that but then it was 17. We didn't want to happy only on cea report but her pet scan was also negative n lesions were disappearing.

Her cea started to rise gradually. We asked around alot n everyone was of the opinion that cea is not a good marker of cancer progression or mets etc. But that was not right in my mom's case. The doctors missed two new lesions that had formed one time. The second time, they let her have surgery saying there's nothing new on the scan to worry about cea and it turned out to be peritoneal metastasis.

I have personally stopped trusting doctors about these things but i do trust my friends who have themselves or one of their family members have been through this. What I've seen is that cea as a cancer marker is not reliable in everyone. But you should look at its trends throughout your cancer journey. If it has always elevated in reponse to disease progression and decreased with treatment then its a good marker for you and can be of alot of help.

Looonnnggg story short. My otherwise very healthy husband was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in early 2017 with normal CEA levels. He’s had countless complications, procedures and surgeries. Summer of 2018 he was diagnosed with a reoccurrence. He had surgery immediately and more chemo and radiation last fall. Since July his CEA levels have been 33, 17, 29 (pre-treatments) 54.7, 54.7, (post treatments) 37.8, and last week back up to 44.7. I’ve read several reports that there are almost no incidents of false positives over 35 but he’s been feeling better so the doctor declared him cancer free since recent scans haven’t shown any significant obvious signs of cancer. He came down with shingles this week and potentially has an ongoing pelvic infection. Has anyone heard of levels this high NOT being an indication of cancer? Could the shingles virus have caused the high levels?

I has colon cancer in march 2017 cea level was 0 tumor removed cea level still 0 no treatment offered after surgery. In Nov had abdominal pain family gp sent for ct lesions on liver cea level now up to 4 oncologist says nothing to worry about. Liver specialist waiting on mri and pet scan. Any one have same issue.

@jamesc -- my mom's case is slightly similar to yours
My mom was diagnosed with Stage IV CRC in 2016 that spread to liver and lung. She did many rounds of chemo to treat the cancer that metastasized - radiotherapy (lung) and ablation (liver), as well as her CRC resection surgery in December 2016. The treatment plan worked, doctors were amazed with her results. She did regular/monthly monitoring and folllow-up CT scans, MRIs, etc. and found no issues. CEA levels were between 5-9 but the doctors considered that normal for her case. Long story short - her life was practically back to normal.

Until her last regular check up this month (Feb 2019) where doctors found a slightly elevated CEA level (12) and a lesion on her spleen and liver. They're doing a biopsy on these lesions to see if cancerous. The doctor said attributing CEA numbers to presence of cancer is misleading.

I hope everything goes ok for your mom. My Dr says the same about the cea level now. This is frustrating as when first diagnosed he said the opposite. I have a cea now of 8 and originally it was 0 I had a pet scan this past thursday and have an E.R.C.P on this tuesday they plan to go through bile duct into liver to biopsy a hard to reach lesion. One of three new ones since November. Just very frustrated as I am sure you and your Mom are. Good luck.. James

Just a quick update have results on both tests I have 3 liver lesions that are cancer 1 in centre and 1 on each lobe. I meat with oncologist this week coming to find out what plan is. How is your Mom

I was treated for colon cancer (chemo) three years ago. My CEA levels have gone from 4.0 to 461.0. Ct scans and PET scans are clear, however no one can determine why my CEA level continues to rise

I just got PET scan results in my online med chart, but don't see the doc until April 17...he's on vacation. I'm googling, but would love some help interpreting what I'm reading. I had colon cancer with resection 5 years ago. Stage IIIb. CEA levels have been steady between .5 and 1.8 until 6 weeks ago. Then they went to 7.9, 2 weeks later 6.0, 2 weeks later 10.7. CAT scan was clear. Here's what the PET report says:

"2.2 cm soft tissue nodule just posterior to the right psoas muscle with max SUV of 3.77. This is suspicious for metastatic disease. No additional of suspicious foci identified. A physiologic uptake within the liver, spleen, kidneys, bladder and bowel.
Mild uptake in the uterine cavity is nonspecific. A focal intense uptake in the distal vaginal area is noted. The etiology is uncertain. It may represent urine contamination versus 2 vaginal lesion. Correlation with GYN examination is recommended."

Thanks for any insights you can offer. And I understand that anything you might offer is NOT a diagnosis and DOES NOT substitute for my doctors advice.