CEA during chemo

[pdp497]

I just got blood test results after the first round of chemo. There was a very small decrease in CEA but nothing significant. I'm not sure what I was expecting to see but I guess Inwas hoping for a bigger drop. How long has it taken after begining chemo for others to see decreases in CEA?

[benben]

My CEA has actually gone up - just slightly, mine has always been low starting at 2.7 going down to 1.9 and bouncing back up to 3.1 last session which was round 7 for me.

Perhaps some folks with higher CEA will chime in.

[Mercy110]

My mum has similar case. Her CEA dropped insignificantly from 9.9 to 7.3 after surgery, then back up to 8.0 after 2 rounds of chemo.
Seems that there are lung nodules in her lungs which is rely a very bad news for my family.
Hope you are doing well for the chemo as some of them said CEA sometimes goes up for no significant reasons.

[Shana]

Overall I think that there's so much variance with individual results that it's hard to predict "normal" response in CEA for those with single or double digit counts. I'm more of an anomaly because my CEA is greater than 1650 in July and August, oncologist says it's too high to use as an indicator. It was over 6000 at DX on 12/16 so it started out really high, no explanation other than some tumors express more CEA levels than others. My last CT was in June and just got an order for another one to compare. She says if there's tumor shrinkage, especially in liver mets then we know that we're on the right course of treatment. Hopefully you will see a more signifiant drop soon. Keeping fingers crossed!

[JJH]

My CEA has actually gone up - just slightly..

Here's a blog post that might be of interest to you:

CEA Rise Due to Death of Cancer Cells
https://csn.cancer.org/node/262501

[NHMike]

Mine was 2.7 at diagnosis and dropped to 1.9 after three weeks of chemo and radiation. I was startled that these were Ben's first two numbers as well.

[pdp497]

Mine went from 240 to 231 after one round. I'm not sure what I was expecting but I guess I was hoping for a bigger change so I would know the chemo was working. Hopefully next blood test wills show a greater improvement, I just want a sign the chemo is effective.

[Robino1]

Mine started at 217 and went up to 219 before chemo started. First check after the start of chemo it is only down to 202.
My first PET scan after chemo start is this morning. I'm crossing my fingers that there will be signs of shrinkage or something good.

At least the CEA numbers are moving in the right direction.

[pdp497]

Mine started at 217 and went up to 219 before chemo started. First check after the start of chemo it is only down to 202.
My first PET scan after chemo start is this morning. I'm crossing my fingers that there will be signs of shrinkage or something good.

At least the CEA numbers are moving in the right direction.

Good luck with your PET scan results. Let us know how it goes, hopefully the downward movement in CEA is a good sign for both of us.

[pdp497]

Overall I think that there's so much variance with individual results that it's hard to predict "normal" response in CEA for those with single or double digit counts. I'm more of an anomaly because my CEA is greater than 1650 in July and August, oncologist says it's too high to use as an indicator. It was over 6000 at DX on 12/16 so it started out really high, no explanation other than some tumors express more CEA levels than others. My last CT was in June and just got an order for another one to compare. She says if there's tumor shrinkage, especially in liver mets then we know that we're on the right course of treatment. Hopefully you will see a more signifiant drop soon. Keeping fingers crossed!

I hope you see significant shrinkage in your new scans And at least you have seen a drastic drop in CEA from DX so hopefully things are moving in the right direction.

[Volfan]

Doc tells me cea is just another tool he uses to see how things are going. But he reminds me it's not the most important.
My cea has had a drastic drop at first and has now kind of stalled. I started at 53 at diagnosis then at first treatment it jumped to 103. Then 44, 9.6, 7.6 and the last one went up to 7.9. Doc had said before the last one he thought I would be in normal range either at the 7.9 or this next one next Tuesday. He checks once a month.

[pdp497]

Doc tells me cea is just another tool he uses to see how things are going. But he reminds me it's not the most important.
My cea has had a drastic drop at first and has now kind of stalled. I started at 53 at diagnosis then at first treatment it jumped to 103. Then 44, 9.6, 7.6 and the last one went up to 7.9. Doc had said before the last one he thought I would be in normal range either at the 7.9 or this next one next Tuesday. He checks once a month.

Thanks for the info volfan you have been a real help with a lot of the questions I've had over the last 6 weeks. Hope you get into that normal range at your next test.

[benben]

My CEA has actually gone up - just slightly..

Here's a blog post that might be of interest to you:

CEA Rise Due to Death of Cancer Cells
https://csn.cancer.org/node/262501

Well hopefully my little spike is nothing.
I saw my ONC today. He said they don't worry unless it goes double digits 20+.
Said its quite common to jump around a bit during chemo.

Here's my historical chart:
http://imgur.com/UcGsIkC

[Robino1]

Mine started at 217 and went up to 219 before chemo started. First check after the start of chemo it is only down to 202.
My first PET scan after chemo start is this morning. I'm crossing my fingers that there will be signs of shrinkage or something good.

At least the CEA numbers are moving in the right direction.

Good luck with your PET scan results. Let us know how it goes, hopefully the downward movement in CEA is a good sign for both of us.

PET was changed to a CT scan because insurance didn't want to pay for the PET.

Anyway, oncologist said that my tumor is "melting" and the ascites is Gone, gone, gone. The chemo is kicking ass I am one happy camper right now.

Had to skip this chemo though because my grandkids gave me a nice cold that is turning into something a bit more. On an antibiotic so I should be good to go next week.

[Achilles Torn]

Mine went from 2.8 (Roche assay) pre-chemo up to 4.9 after the second treatment. Over 9 months It has steadily decreased to 2.3 last week. Scans showed a significant response to Chemo during that time and fingers crossed that will last a while on maintenance chemo.

Some papers show a CEA rise at the start of Chemo followed by a drop is a good prognostic factor. However, I am more of the thinking that single CEA measurements are unreliable, especially during Chemotherapy.

AT