Had colon cancer and now CEA is rising: Scared

I would agree with the conclusion above. It’s unlikely to a return of cancer at those low CEA levels. I went from 5 to over 90 in 4 weeks and had 3 metastasised from my original colon cancer to my liver. Luckily all 3 removed. I wouldn’t follow the advice from the other contributor. God bless.

Unfortunately we live in iran and dont have access to that place. 😥

If you know a sample of the tumor was taken as part of surgery suggest you have your doctor send the sample to Natera 650-446-4657, You can also call that number and talk to them about getting a CT DNA test established. It will take about 2 months for them to create a test from your tumor sample. Much better than CEA

Good luck

It was sigmoid colon also. Macroscopic description, block description,
microscopic, diagnosis, molecular pathologic report, immunohistochemistry
report all i have.

I wanted to add they got sample. I have all reports. But i thought should i
send them or not. I dont want to bother you.
Did you have lymph nodes involved or no??

Thank you so much. I hope he gets well soon and there no sign of cancer on
him.
Also Best wishes for you.
God bless you and your family

One additional comment on CEA. I had stage 3B as well My CEA before surgery was 1.8, And I had a 3 cm tumor in my sigmoid colon. So I believe most institutions are not placing a great deal of reliance on CEA and I don't think you should either

Less than 50 μg/g: Considered normal
50-100 μg/g: May indicate mild inflammation
101-250 μg/g: Suggestive of moderate inflammation
Greater than 250 μg/g: Highly suggestive of significant inflammation

Those are the laboratory ranges and mild inflammation could result In elevated CEA. The bowel issues should be assessed as part of the colonoscopy

Good luck

Hi - thank you for all the information. It appears the treatment and follow up is as expected, however I suggest it would have been much better if the surgeon would have taken more than 20 lymph nodes to get a broader assessment of The degree of metastasis. That being said it appears that a tumor sample was not taken at time of surgery and that prevents you from being able to assess with a circulating tumor DNA test. However I would ask your doctor if he could check on that and there's a potential you could continue your screening with either the Signatera test, or a new and possibly better test being offered by the company Exact Sciences, Madison Wisconsin. The most interesting thing however is the last point you made related to calprotectin, because as you know this essay looks for inflammation in the gut due to either a bacterial infection or other inflammatory bowel syndrome.... And it just so happens that any inflammation can cause an increase in CEA. Ask your doctor about this as well. So given the relatively low CEA level and the potential for inflammatory bowel disease I will be less concerned about cancer. I hope that's the case for you!

Sorry i forgot to mention that his calprotectin now came to 67. It means he
doesnt have too much inflammation. Although the good range in laboratory is
under 50.
I mean that 3 months ago we thought ok this upward cea is for inflammation.
But now what????
What should i do?