Why is my CEA level normal, but I was diagnosed as colon cancer?

Mine was 3.2 and I was a smoker when I was diagnosed. It was also low when I was diagnosed with Mets to my liver. Have been wondering the same things. Stay on top of how your body feels as well as the labs.

Hello. Yes all my labs was good. I had my first colon screen and had some polyps removed and a mass that was measured incorrectly I was told after my surgery. It was supposed to have been 30mm and it was smaller. All my polyps wasn’t cancerous my mass was sent to a Pathologist and they found 33 Lymph nodes only two was cancerous. My Doctor thinks I should get Chemo for 3mths. He said I have time to think about it. I’m not going to since I had Surgery and they removed everything and I’m getting my next Colon screen in March 2024 I will see how things look then. I’m not letting Chemo take my quality of life down hill. I change my diet and what I eat.

My CEA was 2.3 prior to surgery. My colon cancer was only stage 1, so it may indicate you have an early cancer. CEA is not a great indicator of recurring cancer although I still get one yearly after seven years from surgery. My surgeon who I see yearly, said they now have a blood test that can pick up a recurring cancer even before it is seen on a CT scan. They develop it for each person extracting DNA from your primary colon tumor. She said she had a patient who had surgery for rectal cancer and a year later the blood test revealed a reoccurrence. The patient had chemo and the tumor disappeared requiring no additional surgery. It was not available seven years ago when I had my cancer, so it cannot be used for me. Be sure to ask your surgeon about it.

My CEA was < 2.0 in March 2023 prior to my colon surgery in April. I had a cancerous polyp discovered during my colonoscopy in February. My understanding is that the CEA blood test gave the surgeon an idea if the cancerous antigens had entered my blood stream through the blood vessels in the wall of the colon and had traveled to other organs. The pathology of the cancerous polyp indicated that cancer cells were within 2 mm of the lining of the colon, which concerned both the gastroenterologist and the colon surgeon. The removal of 8 inches of my colon was done during the resection surgery and pathology reported that they did not see any cancer cells outside of the margins from where the polyp had been. Also, pathology did not see any cancer in the 24 lymph nodes that had been removed. Earlier this week on July 10, I had another CEA blood test and the report came back with a reading of 2.0. At my follow up with the surgeon in 2 weeks I will ask him if going from < 2.0 to 2.0 is an indication of an increase in the CEA or was it just the way this happened to be reported and it may not be significant. I am hopeful that the CEA blood test that my surgeon likes to have taken every 3 months is a valid indication of whether or not cancer is showing up in my blood stream and traveling to other organs. With the resection and removal of the colon where the cancerous polyp was, I am fairly confident that if any cancer cells were still in the colon, then they were removed and did not have a chance to spread into my bloodstream. So, my understanding is that a person can have a cancerous polyp in the colon and still have an acceptable CEA test result because the cancer antigens or cells may not have spread into the blood stream. A CEA test every 3 months should provide future information about the potential growth of a small amount of cancer antigens or cells that may have been missed in earlier CEA tests. My gastroenterologist recommends an annual colonoscopy for me in the future and the surgeon wants regular CEA tests.

Mine was 3b colorectal. Sigmoid resection. It went outside the parameters. Did nothing. Had a few rounds of 5fu till oral. Requested a PET scan with normal CEA. It had metastasized to liver. Resection of liver and a yr of chemo. CTs every 3 and blood. Colonoscopies every 2 yrs. End of yr will be 5 years. I always stay on top of it and request yearly PET scans.

CEA isn’t always a good indicator for everyone. I had a decent sized cancerous tumor in my sigmoid that was staged at 2. My CEA prior to surgery and prior to biopsy of tumor was 1.8. After surgery it was .8. The highest it’s ever been was 2.1

I also have colon cancer, surgery is Wednesday, so I do t know what stage. My results were less than 2. My surgeon said some colon cancers don’t show up with the blood test, but they will use your results to monitor any cancers in your body.
Hope this helps……. Take care♥️