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CEA increase on FOLFIRI

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 1:23 pm
by CLD
I'm sitting in the infusion center trying to wrap my head around this. DH CEA now nearly 10. Was 2.8 at recurrence and 5 at initial dx...when he had a 5cm tumor and 13 positive nodes! His Dr continued chemo today, dropping Avastin in preparation for possible surgery, and next scan scheduled for Oct 15. She did another CEA and said if this also shows an increase, scan will be done sooner. So of course I'm thinki g he FOLFIRI isn't working. Has anyone had FOLFIRI not work at all? Dr said possible rise is due to inflammation.

Re: CEA increase on FOLFIRI

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 1:49 pm
by tater
My wife's CEA raised during FOLFOX +Avistan. It upset me and made me worried. The oncologist actually told me that it was a good thing that it raised. He mentioned that it can be inflammation but the marker picks up protein or antigen I can't remember that corresponds to tumor cells dying and that it meant that the cancer was seeing a good response to the chemo. I'm not sure if this is the same for your husband but it was my experience.

Re: CEA increase on FOLFIRI

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 2:17 pm
by Deb m
My husbands CEA initially increased while on folfox for a while, but then came down towards the end of treatment. His scans remained clear.

Nerve racking to say the least, I know. Hang in there and hopefully it will be the same with your husband.
deb m

Re: CEA increase on FOLFIRI

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 6:14 pm
by Cmac1275
Hang in there. CEA can be a fickle thing. For me, CEA seemed to be a reliable marker. Once I started FOLFOX / Avasting, I saw it go down from 60 to 4.7 right before my 6th and last session. Post liver resection, I was at 2.1. But now despite finding new mets in my liver, my CEA has remained at normal levels <3.0

It’s been three weeks since my last labs, so I don’t know where it sits now. But my onc thinks we may not be able to use it reliably anymore as a marker.

Re: CEA increase on FOLFIRI

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 6:30 pm
by mhf1986
Yes, DH started at 114, then dropped to 40 after surgery only to bounce up to 80 after his first 2 treatments. Dr. said it was the tumor rapidly throwing off the protein, trying to survive. CEA steadily declined after that and tumors did shrink.

We are waiting on CEA results now, haven't seen any since July but other blood work looks good.

Re: CEA increase on FOLFIRI

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 8:53 am
by Mercy110
My mum has similar situation that her CEA increased steadily throughout the first two treatments of folfiri. We are not so optimistic because last time her CEA increase proved to be mets to lungs. No scan so far so we still can’t figure out what has been wrong. She has no syndromes at all and x-ray showed few changes in lungs. We are suspecting if there is new met.

We are also worried about the cost of using better meds such as keytruda...