High CEA

[dsl]

I was wondering if anyone else's CEA number has risen to 10 and nothing be wrong. My number stays between 5-9 and now it's rising to 10. I had 2 pet scans and 2 ct scans and everything has came back ok. The doctors are thinking it may be tyroid cancer. I've had a biopsy done but the results were uncertain. I'm having another pet scan next week. It's just stressing me out of the unknown. I was originally diagnoised with Stage 3 CC back in Nov.09.

[Gsousa14@Verizon.net]

I had stage 2a rectal cancer last year my cea started at 26 after surgery it was .03 it has slowly been rising since then its now at 1.0 which is still very low. I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer six months after my rectal surgery they caught it on a routine ct scan. My cea was .08 my oncologist said that the cea is just for colon cancers and not for thyroid.

[JAZZToo]

The actual CEA number is not as important as the trend in CEA levels, ie. ascending over several tests. Sometimes the CEA will rise 6 months prior to the appearance of cancer being large enought to show up on a scan. The CEA level can also rise due to other inflammation or GI tract problems, but then it would recede once the acute situation clears up. And there are times it will rise for no discernable reason at all. I can certainly understand your frustration at being in limbo as to what if anything may be going on.

Hope it is nothing
Leslie