CEA counts(Highest and Lowest)

[sumit22]

I would like to hear some peoples highest CEA counts and their lowest CEA counts and the amount of time it took to get from the highest to the lowest.


I do understand that CEA on its own is not a good indicator but I am curious on some peoples numbers.


Thanks

[murfer1]

My lowest CEA was 1.9, after colon resection, and my highest was 3.5 when I had 15 mets in my liver!! Throughout my chemo my CEA ranged from 2.2 to 3.5. Consequently, my doctors have said that the CEA test isn't a very good diagnostic tool for me, possibly because of variations in tumor types within the adenocarcinoma group. (No cellular level tumor-typing was done by a pathologist in my case.)

Has anyone else had a similar limited response on the CEA??

[Molly]

Even on the day of my surgery (before any chemo), my CEA never went above .5. I'm nearly 9 years out and my doc still tests my CEA when he sees me. Drives me up a tree because I know it's a worthless test on me.

[weisssoccermom]

My CEA was 0.5 at diagnosis with a 4-6 cm rectal tumor. Now, after radiation, chemo and surgery it is staying in the 1.4 range.

[jessicaR_bsn]

My CEA was 70 in October. This was after my colon resection and hysterectomy. I have mets to liver also that I will be having surgery to remove. Right now my CEA is 10, after 4 chemo treatments.

[PammySue_51]

My CEA is 10 and has never fluctuated since I was diagnosed in Sept. 2006 in spite of major tumor shrinkage. So I guess CEA is not a good diagnostic tool for me either.

Pam

[seussfan]

The day I went into the hospital, my CEA was around 154. Four days after surgery it was down to 55. Four weeks after surgery it went down to 10. The day I started chemo I was at 3. Throughout most of my chemo treatment my CEA was at 1 and it remains there - so far.

[PGLGreg]

CEA high 1.3 a little over a year after LAR for stage 2 rectal cancer; low 0.7 now, two years after (no recurrences; NED).

[guest / cea]

My husband Stage IIIc with 2 recurrences (3 maybe):

Diagnosis 4.3
Low 1.2
High 9.3 (this high was about 4 weeks after he was diagnosed with 3 pelvic mets. He refused to begin chemo again (no surgery this time) until after the Thanksgiving holidays and his CEA jumped from 5.9 to 9.3 in that 4 weeks.)

His recurrences have been diagnosed with small steady increases in CEA and scans once they go over 3.0. The latest series since taking a chemo break are 1.3; 1.7; 1.4; 1.5; 1.5; 1.8; 1.8; 2.4; and 3.2 (4 week intervals).

Even with low numbers, CEA can be a good tool for certain individuals.

[rthornton]

My CEA was 55, I think, when diagnosed in May '05. After a colectomy and chemotherapy, it went down to 3, give or take a tenth of a percent, until this past October. Between Oct and Dec, it rose from 3 to 7.4 to 15. I just had a flex sig exam and a thoracentesis, a negative CT/PET ... looking for the cause of such a sharp increase. I'm hoping the pleural effusion that was resolved by today's thoracentesis might be an innocent cause of the rise in CEA.

I did not know until recently that the ranges for "normal" CEA counts very by laboratory.

[GO BLUE Girl]

My CEA at DX was not elevated like 1.7. it did go up to 3+ only after radiation and chemo started. For the last 2-3 years has been between 1 and 2 but my last one in dec. was 0.6 (-: Beth


Dx rectal cancer-2/04. Coming up on 4 years NED

[Becca]

My CEA has been all over the place. My oncologist has said that I am actually one of a small # of his patients that have a reliable CEA count. In other words, it goes up with disease & down with treatment. I really don't remember exactly what my #s were at the time of my DX, but it was something like 130, & it dropeed after my resection surgery & again after chemo, ending up in the nomal range. (4.6, I think.) ANYWHO, it started to slowly creep up several months after treatment & nothing showed up on a scan until November of '06, when TA DA! 22 lung mets!! I started back on chemo in December of '06 & in September of '07 my CEA was a whopping 470!!! Well, my oncologist FREAKED OUT & we made some changes to my treatment. I am OH-SO-HAPPY to report that at last check (about a month ago) my CEA had plumetted back down to a lovely 56!! Still high, but I'll take it!

[MadamJoJo]

This is a really interesting topic.

My CEA was 1.7 when I was diagnosed in Sept 07 with Stage 11 B CC. Since starting chemo in November, my CEA has crept up to 2.3. My onc team says I shouldn't fret as I am still within 'normal' range of 0 - 5 ( I am non smoker ). However, given my level at diagnosis, and some of the stories told here, I have little faith in CEA as an accurate diagnostic stool for early stage cancer.

[weisssoccermom]

I absolutely would NOT worry about my CEA creeping up during chemotherapy. It is very common for it to do so during treatment which is why many oncs don't even bother testing for your CEA level while you are undergoing chemotherapy treatment.

[Ron50]

At dx with st3 6 bad nodes my cea was 2.8. After chemo finished it has dropped below 1 except for one lot of peptic ulcers when it went up to 1.6. It now sits at 0.6 nearly ten years after ca. Ron.