CEA and scans

[wife2jeff]

I was wondering when everyone else's oncologist does CEA and scans. They did my husbands CEA after his first chemo and it was 0.7 down from 4.7 at time of diagnosis. However, his oncologist said that they wont test again until after he is finished with chemo and I think she said he will have his first scan also after chemo and colonoscopy at a year from surgery. He will be finished with chemo, if he stays on schedule mid February and his year colonoscopy will be around June or July. I feel like I have read that many others have their CEA check through out chemo, so I was just curious.

[ginabeewell]

I’ve gotten my CEA checked monthly and CT scans every 4-5 cycles (so every 2-3 months).

I’m a little surprised they wouldn’t want a read as he’s going through chemo. I think it’s more typical to be checking throughout treatment. If his CEA is that low however maybe they don’t think it’s a reliable predictor? Depending on the scale used, sometimes under 5 is considered normal. And I do know some doctors are much more careful about the number of CTs they do.

Have you asked why they don’t track more often?

[texmexflute]

I only did 3 months (6 infusions) of chemo after resection and they did scans right after I finished. Found my liver mets. Then while I was on chemo for mets it was after 4 infusions. After I had liver resection and 6 more infusions of mop-up chemo I had another scan that showed NED (no evidence of disease). The plan was scans every 3 months for a while. On the 2nd 3 month scan I had another liver met. So now I'm in a clinical trial and they said protocol is scan every 9 weeks. Also, CEA was once a month while on chemo (and now on the trial) and every 3 months while NED.

[wife2jeff]

Hmmm yea I am a little concerned although she did say she wasn't too worried since his was so low, she did mention that people that smoke (which my husband does not) typically have higher CEA but now I am concerned and wondering if we should have it checked again.

[Beckster]

I was wondering when everyone else's oncologist does CEA and scans. They did my husbands CEA after his first chemo and it was 0.7 down from 4.7 at time of diagnosis. However, his oncologist said that they wont test again until after he is finished with chemo and I think she said he will have his first scan also after chemo and colonoscopy at a year from surgery. He will be finished with chemo, if he stays on schedule mid February and his year colonoscopy will be around June or July. I feel like I have read that many others have their CEA check through out chemo, so I was just curious.

What was his staging? I was Stage 2 and they did not test CEA or scan until after I was finished chemo. I think it depends on the initial staging and pathology.

[Punky44]

My mom had her CEA tested before each chemo, a mid chemo scan and a post-chemo scan.

[Rock_Robster]

Mine doesn’t test between every chemo round, as he says results bounce around a lot and aren’t clinically relevant that frequently, as you wouldn’t change treatment. In particular he won’t test during the first 4 rounds as he says the results are just likely to cause more anxiety. We tend to test around every 4-6 rounds, or with scans, after surgery or other milestones. That said, mine was 12-14 initially, dropped too 2.x fairly quickly, and has been <2 ever since. I think for surveillance I’ll want to do monthly for at least the first couple of years (I suspect he might say quarterly but we’ll have that debate).

Cheers
Rob

[Deb m]

My husband was a stage IIbT4a and he had his CEA with scan every three months during treatments and for the first year and a half after treatments finished. The was followed every 6 months with CEA and scan for another two years, then just once a year. Now coming up on our 9 year anniversary from the start of all this (surgery) he just gets a scope every three years.

Yes, you should be getting surveillance CEA's and scans even when your still going thru chemo. Things can still progress and grow despite treatments sometimes. This was all recommendations and follow up per MDA.

[claudine]

When DH was doing adjuvant chemo, they never looked at his CEA. Now that he's doing second line for mets, he gets his CEA measured before each infusion (so, twice a week); and a scan every 6 cycles - next one is December 6th, I'm stressing out already, especially since his CEA values have been steadily creeping up (he's a 6.something today). In his case, it may mean that Folfiri + Avastin have stopped working, so he's getting the scan before his 6th infusion - no point in hammering his body if he's developed resistance to the treatment; we'll have to see with his oncologist what happens if that's the case - the goal was tumor shrinkage before radiation or surgery. In his case, since CEA levels have been good markers so far, it's important to get them taken regularly, but I guess each case is different.