MartinSmith wrote:had colon surgery march 2017... STAGE 2A T3... 32 lymph nodes removed no sign spread...no chemo.. since have had CEA in the range from 5.6 to 7.9... understand false positives CEA test common??
zx10guy wrote:So far haven't found anyone on the forums remotely close to what I'm going through.
Last year went in for my 3 month routine checkup. Had one in December with a clear scan and CEA at around 5.4 if I recall correctly. I've always been on the high side so that number hasn't been alarming. March things took a different turn. CEA comes in at 15.6. Oncologist thinks this has to be some lab mistake. So we re-ran another test. 16.7. I've already chronicled my testing marathon here before. So just search for my post. To say I've done pretty much all tests under the sun isn't an understatement. Since March of 2017, my CEA has stayed in the teens with the highest number at 20.2 and the lowest was either 11 or 14. Can't remember right now. I had another checkup in May which was my 6 month checkup as my oncologist felt comfortable to push out the frequency of visits. CT scan again was clear except catching a cardiac issue which I'm now being checked for. But my CEA has bounced up again to 17.7. Asked my oncologist if this is going to change anything with my monitoring. He said no and see you in November.
NHMike wrote:zx10guy wrote:So far haven't found anyone on the forums remotely close to what I'm going through.
Last year went in for my 3 month routine checkup. Had one in December with a clear scan and CEA at around 5.4 if I recall correctly. I've always been on the high side so that number hasn't been alarming. March things took a different turn. CEA comes in at 15.6. Oncologist thinks this has to be some lab mistake. So we re-ran another test. 16.7. I've already chronicled my testing marathon here before. So just search for my post. To say I've done pretty much all tests under the sun isn't an understatement. Since March of 2017, my CEA has stayed in the teens with the highest number at 20.2 and the lowest was either 11 or 14. Can't remember right now. I had another checkup in May which was my 6 month checkup as my oncologist felt comfortable to push out the frequency of visits. CT scan again was clear except catching a cardiac issue which I'm now being checked for. But my CEA has bounced up again to 17.7. Asked my oncologist if this is going to change anything with my monitoring. He said no and see you in November.
Those numbers would drive me up a wall as well.
wwroam wrote:I don't know about false positives but CEA is a very useful alarm for a range of cancers.
Last year over an 8 month period my CEA went from 4 to 6.2.
My onc at the time sent me off for a PET scan. Result after an EBUS biopsy was Stage 3A NSCLung Cancer.
I am now in remission from this but reflect that without CRC and 10 years of testing I could now be dead.
I would encourage anyone to get a PET scan if there are changes to long stable CEA
Regards
Wayne.
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