CEA Test

Morning Boreham,  I was operated on Jan '18 and have had several CEA tests, my figures range between 4 - 6, so your 4.2 would be at the lower end of my range.  That would appear to be a 'good reading,' they are more looking for trends.  I have had 'rises' followed by a retest a month later, and I now realise it is not a 'constant ' everyone has fluctuations.   The really important thing is someone is looking at your readings who understands what they mean.

YNWA 

Mike 

Hi Mike

I've been looking through old posts to see what people had said about CEA levels. I had my major surgery for recurrent stage 1 rectal cancer in June 2018, three years ago. All the CEA tests I’ve had in my cancer “journey” and surveillance have been exactly 2. The test I had this week is 3 and the colo nurse said they would retest in 3 months’ time. In the normal course of events I would have progressed from 6 monthly tests to annual tests. As I’ve never had any variance in my levels I’ve been completely panicking all day thinking my cancer has come back. You’ve given me some reassurance that levels can fluctuate and I think I’ll try to stay (relatively!) calm until I see what happens next time. Although I am wondering if I should push for a retest sooner, just in case it is on an upward trend    

Hope you’re doing ok

All the best

Liz

Hi,  and Camelializ, my CEA  over the last 2 years has never been the same twice running, and has varied between 2.1 and 3.5. Next one due in August. It got higher during chemo, but is not a constant. I early on decided that it is not an indicator for me and refuse to take much note. Unless it suddenly shoots up to 10!! Everyone I guess is different, but in my case they are not worried and check 6monthly. Hope that helps.

Dear Liz,

Oh dear, the notorious raised blood test indicator.  The problem is, just what is it indicating?  I've become somewhat blaze` about blood test results, I've had them +,=,- over the years, I had to have one repeated earlier in the year for the same reason as you.  It's the same for the PSA test for Prostate cancer, anything higher than 4 means further investigation,  mine has been as high as 49, often in the 20's, sometimes 30's but never below 4.9.  

My wife is always my 'voice of reason' on these things.  She's a GP and has seen it so often.  This doesn't lessen the impact when it's your score though. I'd try and speak to your care team and see what they think about timings, they know your case and their own subject. Hope retest is a return to normal.

YNWA 

Mike

Hi  and Camelializ. My CEA has always been less than 1 but was 1.8 this time - the nurse said it was still within the normal range so nothing to worry about.

There used to be a really good article on the bowel cancer uk board which no longer shows but one of the nurses copied into the post below

https://community.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/forum/13425-raised-cea

I think thus explains it really well and hope it helps

Karen x

Thanks Kareno62and everyone for your kind and prompt replies.  Very reassuring. I think because my increase was “only” from 2 to 3 I will wait the three months they suggested and take the repeat test and hope it was just a blip. The article you sent was interesting because my CEA levels were always at 2 previously, even when I had the tumour. But still, you worry a lot when something changes.  I guess the fear of recurrence is always lurking in the background…

Anyway, thanks a bunch everyone.

Liz x

Hi all

Just an update. I had my repeat CEA test last week after a three month interval. I had the result this morning. It is back to 2, which is what it’s always been. (Having gone up to 3 when I was last tested in July).

On speaking to the colorectal nurse, it transpires that my hospital  (in Bristol) always round the test result figure, which is why it’s only ever been a whole number. So in theory my results could have been 2.4 = 2 last December and 2.6 = 3 in July, causing me unnecessary alarm and worry. If they’d explained that to me back in July I wouldn’t have been so anxious.

I know it was only a small increase in July, but because, over the course of four and a half years, it had never been above 2 and the fact they wanted to repeat the test after 3 months made me think the cancer had come back.  I guess having had recurrent cancer there’s always that thought in the back of my mind.

Anyway, thanks to everyone here for their reassuring words and hope everyone is doing as well as can be expected.

Liz x

Great news ! You can relax now ! Interesting info that they round it up !

Court 

Thanks court! I must say I felt as if I needed a stiff drink after the phone call! And I burst in to tears when my husband walked through the door just as I was hanging up. 
hope your mum is doing ok. 
Liz x