CEA Levels

FormerMember over 3 years ago

2 replies
117 subscribers
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Hi Guys

My dad was diagnosed with bowel cancer in late July last year following a colonoscopy. All cancer was successfully removed with no spread.
6 months later and 3 months into precautionary chemotherapy he has had blood results back showing his c19-9 levels have dropped from 7 to 5 and his magnesium levels have slightly risen.
the scary part is that his CEA levels have risen from 11 to 17. He has a CT scan tomorrow morning

i am anxious beyond belief and I am hoping someone can give me an insight on what to expect perhaps through their own experience

thanks so much in advance!

court over 3 years ago

Welcome to the forum . Keep me right . Is your dad currently on chemotherapy?
If so , CEA is more reliable off chemo than on chemo . The very chemotherapy itself can cause a spike . Inflammation can cause a spike . He is sitting a little high anyway at 11 . My mum had chemotherapy for two years with a gap in between . Each year it went upwards . It gave us such a fright . Statistically around 50% of chemotherapy spikes are false positives .

However he has a good team around him making sure , catching something early allows it to be quickly dealt with .

Additionally for two years running my mum suddenly had a spike although off chemo at that point . Off for a scan and both times it was nothing . We had to conclude it had become an unreliable marker for her now as something else was influencing it that was not cancer related . We never found out what .

It is not always the most reliable marker but still has a role to play and has been a life saver for a lot of people .

I wish your dad every success with his scan tomorrow. It’s tough for sure !
Take care ,

Court

Helpline Number 0808 808 0000

FormerMember over 3 years ago in reply to court

Hi court!

thank you for the response, I found some comfort in it, yes he is currently on chemotherapy I believe it is xeloda