Connect
Had colon cancer and now CEA is rising: Scared
Colon cancer 10 year and now raised CEA
Just had a colonoscopy and it was fine. Went for my yearly check up and CEA is evaluated to 7. no weight loss, no loss of appetite. I am under a great deal of stress, family, marriage lose of a grandchild. Went back to vaping. Doctor is going to do a ct scan. I am scared to death.
Like
Helpful
HugInterested in more discussions like this? Go to the Colorectal Cancer Support Group.
Connect
His cea before surgery at the time of surgey was about 89 or 92 . After
surgery came to 12 and then below 1. After one year after it is about two
years that this cea is increasing from 1 or 0.65 and reached to 4.6 now.
I hope this can be enough information.
Thank you so much for this kind reply.
Also i have to apologize for my english if there are mistakes.
3 months ago gastro Doc told us his calprotectin is 210 and high and he has
inflammationin colon and gave him mezalazin tablet.
Next week we are going to gastro Doc.
Sure. He is now 42 years old. His cancer was stage 3b. 8 lymph nodes
removed and 3 was positive.
He did surgery 4 years and 9 months ago exactly.
One month after surgery started chemoterapy for about 8 or 9 months.
After that we follow up every 3 months with colonoscopy and ct scan and
this cea
There is two small noduls in lung which told us it is nothing and every
time they were unchangable
We did last petscan and last colonoscopy 10 months ago. Pet was clear and
in colonoscopy there were 3 polyps which removed and were ok.
Can you please provide more history? When was your surgery what did they find? How many lymph nodes were sample and how many were positive? What has been the follow up since surgery? When was the last colonoscopy? What is your age? Any other symptoms? This information would be helpful.
Thank you.
Hello, i wanted to update that we went to oncologist today. She said we
have to do petscan or ctscan and one colonoscopy after two months.
I said that i have read cea up to 20 is not important.
She said no just for smokers.
In your case up to 5 and now its 4.6
I am soooooo worried. My husband is sooo worried. He lost his confidence.
Do you think his cancer 3b is returning?????
Thank you so much🙏🙏🙏🙏
Please understand that with this type of testing (biological antigen) those numbers really do not mean "a change". Biological test values have inherently alot of variability and these "differences" are not significant. CEA is an inexpensive and acceptable early indicator for new cancer, but really isn't very good for surveillance. I would not even think about it until it gets close to 20. Hope that helps.
Thanks a lot for your heartful reply and hope you gave me which i need it a lot
Best wishes for you.
My question is that why this trend is rising although there is some fallings but the whole package is rising.
Like this... 1, 1.1, 2, 1, 2.3, 3, 4, 3.3, 4.3, 4,1, 4.6
How far is it going to rise.one day it will reach 10 or 20 ???????!!!!!!!😥
Thank you a lot for your kind reply and giving me hope.
Best wishes for you and your family
Please don't place too much reliance on CEA. Normal levels up to five can be expected for non-smokers and even 10 is not actionable. Is my understanding that only levels at 20 or higher, would prompt surveillance by pet, CT or MRI. Try to relax!
When I was first diagnosed with colon cancer, stage 4, my CEA was 111! Now it has gone down to 8,0 and fluctuates up and down. My doc said that when the levels get this low it will fluctuate up and down and not to worry. She said they count more on CT scans to determine the cancer status. So don't read into the CEA values too much, unless they are a very high value.