Is CEA higher in a FORMER smoker?

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Kathryn in MN
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Re: Is CEA higher in a FORMER smoker?

Postby Kathryn in MN » Thu May 31, 2012 4:16 pm

Inflammation can cause higher CEA. Smokers get inflammation in their lungs. Someone who quit 3 years ago wouldn't still have inflammation in their lungs from smoke. Ask your oncologist, but I don't think smoking that long ago should affect your labs.
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Re: Is CEA higher in a FORMER smoker?

Postby justin case » Thu May 31, 2012 4:21 pm

My cancer was caught by my GP. He said you either have cancer,or it's the cigarettes. I assume it was high CEA that sent me to the GI. I have severely cut down on my smoking, but still can't quite quit. My CEA last week, was 3.2, which my onc was happy with.
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Re: Is CEA higher in a FORMER smoker?

Postby Disordered » Thu May 31, 2012 4:22 pm

Former chain smoker here. My CEA was 0.8 at diagnosis and I had quit smoking one year prior.
Pat
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Re: Is CEA higher in a FORMER smoker?

Postby weisssoccermom » Thu May 31, 2012 4:26 pm

Having quit for three years shouldn't be affecting your CEA nor should your level be that of a smoker.
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Re: Is CEA higher in a FORMER smoker?

Postby Kathryn in MN » Thu May 31, 2012 4:35 pm

You might want to do a search on CEA - there are lots and lots of threads about it here. 3 is in the normal range.
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Re: Is CEA higher in a FORMER smoker?

Postby weisssoccermom » Thu May 31, 2012 4:47 pm

Yes chemo can cause a spike in the CEA, particularly in the beginning of treatment. If I'm not mistaken, you haven't had that many sessions, correct? I wouldn't worry about it. If you feel concerned, talk with the onc and get his take on it.
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Re: Is CEA higher in a FORMER smoker?

Postby Kathryn in MN » Thu May 31, 2012 5:00 pm

CEA importance is TRENDS. It isn't a good indicator for everyone, but is very good for some people. Anytime your CEA is within normal range, they do not worry about fluctuation. If you are 1 or if you are 3, it is ok. CEA can fluctuate .5 within the same day very easily. Inflammation causes rise in CEA, so if you get the flu, have radiation, surgery or chemo, it can rise. Smokers (current) get inflammation in the lungs from smoking, so they can have a normal CEA of 5. Someone else with a chronic condition causing inflammation like smoking does could have a normal CEA a bit higher also.

The whole importance of CEA is the trend over time. If your CEA is 2, and then it is 4, and then it is 9, you have something to be concerned about and further assessment is needed. More so if it is 2.5, then 10, then 200+. If your CEA is 2.5, and then 1.9, and then 2.7, and then 2.2, and then 3.0, it means nothing - it is all just normal fluctuation within the normal range. For stage IV patients it is used to see if current treatment is working. If someone goes from 475 to 250, to 110, to 15 that is a great sign. If they have been staying lower and then a rise is seen from 15 to 150 to 260, then it probably isn't working anymore. It can be a very helpful tool for those that it is a good indicator for. But some people have multiple tumors and have a CEA of 2.

The bad thing about CEA is so many people get so worried about it fluctuating a little (myself included), when the intent is not to check for tiny fluctuations, but to check for a trend that shows something good or bad is probably going on. It took a while, but I've learned not to freak out about CEA, unless I see a trend over time, just like my oncologist has been trying to get me to realize for 3 years! ;)
CRC AUG09 Age 47
Sig Res T4a N2a Mx, KRAS mut codon13
Mets bones & nodes
FOLFOX, FOLFIRI, Avastin, Radiation
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Re: Is CEA higher in a FORMER smoker?

Postby Granny » Thu May 31, 2012 6:41 pm

So how do you know if your CEA is working for you? If it doesn't work for everyone, how do you know if it is or isn't for yourself?
Granny

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Re: Is CEA higher in a FORMER smoker?

Postby Kathryn in MN » Thu May 31, 2012 7:04 pm

Granny wrote:So how do you know if your CEA is working for you? If it doesn't work for everyone, how do you know if it is or isn't for yourself?
Granny


The only way you really find out is if it doesn't move around much at all - in particular when you know you have active disease. If you have multiple tumors and haven't started any treatment and your CEA is in the normal range, it is not a good indicator for you.

If/when it does spike, there is usually a cause. But the cause might not even be cancer. Like if you get the flu (happened to me last winter). Or if you've been having radiation (usually spikes during radiation due to inflammation and comes back down after finishing). It can also often go up a little (usually not too much) from starting chemo, and then will start to come back down if chemo is working. But there are some people with multiple tumors who start in the normal range for CEA, and stay there all the time, no matter if they are having spread and growth or not. For some people CA19-9 seems to be a more sensitive and accurate test for them. Not enough is known yet about the different mutations of CRC, so even a standard test doesn't apply to 100% of patients - every case is so individualized.
CRC AUG09 Age 47
Sig Res T4a N2a Mx, KRAS mut codon13
Mets bones & nodes
FOLFOX, FOLFIRI, Avastin, Radiation
Irinotecan, Zaltrap & STAR RFA
APR13 pleurisy & ascites - more chemo & draining
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kathrynblume

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Re: Is CEA higher in a FORMER smoker?

Postby chessamay » Thu May 31, 2012 7:49 pm

JB,
I was always wondering that because my husbands CEA's have never been below 3.4.
He is stage 2a

Today we just got his cea .....4.4........a little concerned, but not freaking out. It is up from last time 3.7 but it has been as high as 4.7.....the concern is if it keeps climbing, they say!
He was a former smoker for 15 years from the age of 15-about 31. he is now 39.
I was always wondering....no one seems to know that i ask and i cannot find any info anywhere.

Catherine
Wife of husband 38yo with
St 2A CC
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Re: Is CEA higher in a FORMER smoker?

Postby SkiFletch » Thu May 31, 2012 11:45 pm

The lungs are a mercifully pliable and repairable organ. They have to be because they're constantly interacting with the poisons of our environment, including self-inflicted poisons like tar from smoking. It doesn't take long for the negative effects of smoking to be significantly reduced following quitting smoking. Much research indicates that risks of heart disease and blood clots and other smoking related side effects plunges in as short as 6 months of being smoke-free. This is a direct result of the lung's ability to fix themselves. As such, 3 years post-smoking, I would find it hard to believe that your smoking history has much to do with your current CEA JB. It's FAR more likely that your body just likes to be in that range of CEA expression. Some folks like me are very low (I'm usually <0.05); other folks are like BevG and ride up in the 6-8 range; while MOST are in the 1-4 range. Lest we forget there are also two different measuring protocals (Bayer and Roche I believe) and one reads higher than the other. I forget which is high and which is low, but for example, your CEA in the upper 2's on Bayer might be more like 1 on the Roche (or vice versa, whichever way the scales go ;)). For now though, your CEA represents a normal and healthy person :)
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Re: Is CEA higher in a FORMER smoker?

Postby chessamay » Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:22 pm

YA JB go to the same lab that way you know it is consistent.
There are two types of testing.
We do go to the same lab.
He just runs high I guess.
The key is as long as it is not increasing that is a good sign.
Just saw the oncologist and Ivan is getting an MRI of his liver.
Wife of husband 38yo with
St 2A CC
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PET clear 1/11;
rigid sigmoid for stricture 2/11
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Re: Is CEA higher in a FORMER smoker?

Postby wwroam » Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:52 pm

There are other variables that can affect CEA besides smoking. Even a former smoker may have already developed early stage emphysema . Bev is of course a Type 1 Diabetic. For the 12 months prior to my T2 diagnosis, my CEA increased by 30 %. After six months of medication , my CEA had dropped back to where it had formerly been, and has remained there for the last 6 months.
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