The Colon Club

On the surface of things, this seems good. But I've not had surgery yet and no scan since diagnosis.

I understand that nothing really counts until it's staged, after surgery. What inference can I take from such a drop? I do not hold out false hope and I understand at cea is a significant marker for some and not for others.

Is this after a chemo series?

107 is significant. (Some patients never have particularly elevated CEA even with mets, which is why they say it's not a good marker for them.) A drop to 3, which is in the normal range albeit a bit high for nonsmokers, is almost certainly significant. But without scans you can't really say how significant. It's almost certainly a positive sign, however.

What it can't really tell you is much about the future, since killing every single cancer cell with chemo happens but is fairly rare. But it's a decent start.

This is generally a good prognostic indicator of the effectiveness of first-line therapy, though the papers I’ve read related to FOLFOX plus other agents or were in the context of metastatic disease. The conclusions looked generalizable, however. So thumbs up (but of course fingers crossed).

P.S. You should do a signature. It is hard to be helpful without that context.

Profile updated.

Surgeon wants a chemo break after next chemo 8/25. Surgery scheduled for late September, then the remaining 4 rounds after surgery.

Also just wanted to thank everyone for responding. I truly appreciate your Insight.

When I was diagnosed by CEA was 32. After radiation and chemo pills I think it went down. I didn't do surgery because i madea mistake and my cea went to 500 and then to 620. I started FOLFOX and after about six rounds I was down to 2 digits. After surgery I was down to .8.....So Chemo can make a significant impact on CEA which is a good sign and good response to treatment although treatment sucks!!

I had a follow up with both surgeon and oncologist. One more chemo on 9/8, a break, and surgery on 10/5.

Surgeon ordered CAT scan on 9/27 to see what's up.

When I asked about significance of the CEA drop, he said it was very positive. But he also said we wont know anything really until scan, and that it is possible for spread to occur during chemo.

Man, I hope not. I'm not overly anxious but genuinely curious about how spread can occur when you're doing your utmost to poison it with chemo drugs.

Did anyone here ever have CEA drop during chemo, only to find the cancer has spread?

Fun fact when I asked my surgeon to explain how big the tumor was in real life term, he said it was the size of a fist. Wow.

I suppose the apparently large size of the tumor might explain why your initial CEA was so high with no evidence of mets. Usually such a high CEA is indicative of metastasis.

Good luck with the scan and surgery!

Thanks!

My CEA was never above six but it dropped a lot after surgery. I recall getting the size of my tumor from the pre-surgery MRI.

Cancer markers going down substantially should be a good sign. It means that the marker works well for you too.

At my last chemo before surgery right now. CEA dropped again to 2.1, within normal limits.

Scan is 9/27. I don't have Scanxiety. I am just REALLY curious to know what the scan shows.