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CEA jump from 2.8 to 33 in 6 weeks -- what to make?
Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 1:10 pm
by hopefulandstrong
Friends -
Need some support here. I was prepared for some bouncing around of CEA -- but this feels like a pretty significant jump. Could this be a blip? Love to hear any stories.
Thanks
Re: CEA jump from 2.8 to 33 in 6 weeks -- what to make?
Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 1:44 pm
by Jacques
CEA levels (stable trend)o Normal range, non-smokers: < 3.5 ng/mL
o Normal range, smokers: < 5 ng/mL
o 5 ng/mL – 9 ng/mL : slighty above normal – most likely a benign inflammation
o 10 ng/mL – 19 ng/mL - low threshold for mets (probable indicates a met; will require further testing)
o 20 ng/mL - 35 ng/mL - most likely metastatic; moderate tumor burden
o > 35 ng/mL – most certainly metastatic; large tumor burden
Source:
https://coloncancersupport.colonclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=60075&p=476909#p476909
Rate of change of CEAhttp://coloncancersupport.colonclub.com/viewtopic.php?t=53702&p=426284#p426284
Re: CEA jump from 2.8 to 33 in 6 weeks -- what to make?
Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 1:53 pm
by claudine
Sorry to read that Hopefulandstrong - that's the kind of thing I'm always dreading whenever my husband gets a new blood test before his biweekly chemo... Have you talked to your oncologist? When are you scheduled for a new scan?
Re: CEA jump from 2.8 to 33 in 6 weeks -- what to make?
Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 3:12 pm
by hopefulandstrong
Thanks Jacques and Claudine -
This is brand new news. Have calls into all the clinicians and am asking for a scan. Most recent one was about 5 weeks ago, so I suspect they are going to try to persuade me to wait a few more weeks, and another CEA to gauge a trend rather than a blip. Not sure what will be visible on a scan -- but I think it's worth the trouble. I have a very aggressive mutation, and while I responded magnificently to the triplet therapy in the first two months -- very dramatic drops in CEA -- it's possible that even this treatment has run its course.
It could also be that the very dramatic drop was the fluke -- which would disappointing, but somehow less frightening.
Re: CEA jump from 2.8 to 33 in 6 weeks -- what to make?
Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 3:42 pm
by stu
I would be inclined to hold onto your very recent scan results . Both times my mum has had chemo her markers showed a drop before suddenly rising . Her scans were significant shrinkage both times .
Given your scan was very recent I would not jump to a conclusion just yet .
However I totally understand that it causes an anxiety spike and you need some kind of investigation to give you reassurance.
Take care ,
Stu
Re: CEA jump from 2.8 to 33 in 6 weeks -- what to make?
Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 10:29 am
by NHMike
My CEA rose to a little above normal values on chemo and my oncologist said that he starts to get concerned over 15. But he ordered a scan anyways which found nothing.
I would want a scan at 33.
Re: CEA jump from 2.8 to 33 in 6 weeks -- what to make?
Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 10:40 am
by hopefulandstrong
Thanks Guys -
If the scan shows no change, that will put my mind at ease.
I am wondering if I might have a chemistry that is particularly sensitive to stress -- having just completed a move and getting adjusted to a new place.
Re: CEA jump from 2.8 to 33 in 6 weeks -- what to make?
Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 11:09 am
by Rikimaroo
I don't want to scare you but my CEA gradually went up from .8 to 22. Over a course of six months and the pet scan showed clear, then after six months the pet scan showed something in the pelvic region. My CEA has been a good indicator for me. They put me back on Chemo FOLFIRI and now my CEA is 1.5, but I will have to possibly do surgery next month for curable intent and hopefully once and for all put this thing to bed.
If your CEA has been a good indicator for you most likely your facing a recurrence. I hope not and I hope its a false positive, but seeing the trend on how this works, typically its not a good sign, just being real my friend.
Riki
Re: CEA jump from 2.8 to 33 in 6 weeks -- what to make?
Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 11:33 am
by hopefulandstrong
Right. This is why I'm reacting as I am. I do think it's important to note that I am in the middle of treatment. And so far, we don't have a trend -- just a dramatic rise from the last test -- which had equally dramatic drop from the one before that. Most of what I'm reading on CEA involves folks monitoring things following treatment. As I look at signatures, I do see a few bounces 60 to 45, back up to 56 and so forth. This is why my ONC nurse is imploring to "not freak out" without a trend. But I haven't seen anyone get down to 2.8 then bounce back up.
If there is anyone here for whom that has been the case, I would love to know your story.
Thanks so much,
Re: CEA jump from 2.8 to 33 in 6 weeks -- what to make?
Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 12:00 pm
by NHMike
hopefulandstrong wrote:Right. This is why I'm reacting as I am. I do think it's important to note that I am in the middle of treatment. And so far, we don't have a trend -- just a dramatic rise from the last test -- which had equally dramatic drop from the one before that. Most of what I'm reading on CEA involves folks monitoring things following treatment. As I look at signatures, I do see a few bounces 60 to 45, back up to 56 and so forth. This is why my ONC nurse is imploring to "not freak out" without a trend. But I haven't seen anyone get down to 2.8 then bounce back up.
If there is anyone here for whom that has been the case, I would love to know your story.
Thanks so much,
I went over my results and there was a slow progression from starting treatment until one month after treatment. The high value, 4.5 where 3.8 is the normal limit, was about a month after the end of treatment. It turns out that my CEA correlated to my exercise levels (I track it with a smartwatch and Garmin Connect keeps my records forever). There are some other known factors that raise CEA, at least anecdotally. I don't think that there are research studies as it is hard to measure a lot of factors.
Re: CEA jump from 2.8 to 33 in 6 weeks -- what to make?
Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 12:54 pm
by Jacques
hopefulandstrong wrote:... so I suspect they are going to try to persuade me to wait a few more weeks, and another CEA to gauge a trend rather than a blip....
Just a note to say that what you call a "blip" is often called a TRANSIENT ELEVATION OF CEA in the scientific literature.
Thus, you can get more information about these blips with Google-search by using the keywords TRANSIENT ELEVATION OF CEA.
Re: CEA jump from 2.8 to 33 in 6 weeks -- what to make?
Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 4:17 pm
by stu
My mum had a significant spread to her liver and CEA of 7.2 , if I remember right , at diagnosis. On chemo she went right down to 2 . Yippee we thought . Two months into chemo it did a complete U- turn and popped up to past 11 . Higher than she had ever been . After surgery it went back down .
Her second year she had a recurrence. Her CEA was 5.2 . She had five liver mets of one CM each . She recommended chemo and had an initial drop , two months into it and it more than doubled . The second year we decided to only use the scans for feedback . She shows a recurrence around a CEA of 4 .
Off chemo as she has gotten older it sits between 3.2 and 4.6 .
However last year it went up to 5.6 with no disease . Stayed that way for six months , was scanned again , still no disease then dropped back down . Something else was influencing it .
Hope it’s a false negative due to chemo.
Stu
Re: CEA jump from 2.8 to 33 in 6 weeks -- what to make?
Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2019 8:27 am
by teresajj1
At first when I had cancer only in my colon, my CEA never got above 1.9. 2 years later when it spread to my belly in 6 months it went from 1.9 to 447
. I had cytoreductive surgery 07/18 and since 03/19 its starting to creep back up...3.5, 6.8, 8.6. The CT scans show nothing & my oncologist says all we can do is watch & wait which I hate. My thought is if its rising, I have cancer somewhere, its just not big enough to see yet.
Re: CEA jump from 2.8 to 33 in 6 weeks -- what to make?
Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2019 1:49 pm
by Nikan1
My mom had a spike in her cea level , 4 months after completing adjuvant chemo for stage 3 rectal cancer. It was 40 !!( initially her cea level was 1.8, so we decided it was not a good indicator for her), CT scan showed nothing, it became 73 in next month, then in less than two weeks jumped to 90.Pet scan was ordered, nothing showed up. no polyps no infection no inflammation no thyroid problems ...nothing. My mom was soooo stressed out that stopped any follow up after pet scan, we waited three months to beg her to test her cea level one more time, we got the result and it was 12 !! In next six months it was gradually decreasing to 1.9! The whole story took almost a year.
I understand your fear very well, we had a very tough year with mom’s unexplained high cea level.
(After pet results, my brother who is a pharm.D talked to mom’s onco and they decided that mom can take a low dose of Celebrex (100 mg twice daily) to lessen any hidden inflammation in her body, we don’t know if it really helped in any way, but after three months of taking it ,cea went down to 12.)
Let’s hope that your high cea level is a false alarm.
Re: CEA jump from 2.8 to 33 in 6 weeks -- what to make?
Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 6:49 am
by radnyc
You haven’t had surgery to resect the liver tumors yet? If you’re not out of the woods yet then it’s the main reason your CEA is rising. You need to get to resection.