SoConfused wrote:CEA spikes during chemo treatments are normal and may be caused by tumor death and/or inflammatory process in the body.
stu wrote:Hi ,
My mum’s CEA was around 7 at diagnosis with a significant spread . Every time she had chemo it went up to 11 . The highest it ever gets to . It was nothing short of anxiety provoking. However her scans showed the exact opposite and were find . The second year she had chemo , up they shot again . We ignored them . Like you my mum responds very well to chemo but this was an aspect we just had to learn to live with . Her oncologist just advised us to focus on the scan evidence during chemo and pay more attention to them when she was off chemo .
Hope it helps ,
Stu
NHMike wrote:Check out the levels in my signature. They have been rising but finally leveled off at 2.8. Normal range is up to 3.8. I have my sixth cycle of Oxaliplatin this morning.
rp1954 wrote:Your low pre- and post surgerical CEA, and lack of CEA rise or detection for two months after, should be somewhat reassuring. Pre-op, you did have a good solid CEA response, and hopefully a curative surgery.
The cumulative toxicity of capacitabine and oxaliplaten on cells and organs is common and typically sends many blood tests wild and wilder toward the end of cyclical heavy chemo. In fact, the real decision for many is when they should, or have to, discontinue oxi or even heavy chemo entirely. Then the blood tests will peak at different times and drift down on separate curves over the following year. It would be rises from these declines that cause more concern, and even then some false alarms.
I do have to snort a little bit over the statement that he wanted "to learn more about tumor biology" and presumably did not take a CA199 level before neoadjvant chemo, and perhaps another CA199 reading between surgery and regular chemo. Chemo tends to mangle KRAS testing and CA199 might be your only (imperfect) clue in that vein.
mobrouser wrote:I started at 2.4 pre chemo which puts me toward the high end of normal.
They continued trending upwards with each infusion. It was at 6.3 or 6.8 (I can't remember now) prior to my 6th infusion.
Oxaliplatin was reduced from 90% down to 75% for the 6th and 7th due to platelet and neutrophil issues. My reading on Tuesday prior to 7th
infusion was 4.6.
My oncologist told me not to put too much weight on the levels, but wait to the end of chemo for scan results. She also said that
in Ontario, the government health plan will only pay for CEA tests every 4 weeks, however I am now being tested prior to each infusion.
Not sure who is footing the bill for them?
kandj wrote:DH had a CEA of <.5 when diagnosed and he was riddled with cancer. It got as high as 10 during chemo (both systemic and via an HAI pump). It did trend up a little (still WNL) during his reoccurrence. Right now it is up a little, but I think that is due to inflammation due to a bacterial infection he had.
Expat wrote: I asked about my CA19-9 level when I was first diagnosed, but was told that it is not normally tested...
(in all fairness, I made the mistake of asking my surgeon rather than my oncologist--had I asked my oncologist, I might have gotten a different answer).
I gather that testing CA19-levels at this point (after 7 rounds of chemo) would be pretty useless.
Do you think that it might still be advisable to ask for KRAS/BRAF mutation testing? Part of me would love nothing more than to remain blissful ignorant about this disease, but I do realize that ignorance is not really an option, especially at my stage.
Return to “Colon Talk - Colon cancer (colorectal cancer) support forum”
Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot], hopeinGod2 and 152 guests