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tuson

CEA testing

Hi all. New to this so please bear with me. Hubby was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer but on finding bowel cancer discovered he had stage 3 prostate cancer as well. In 2001 he had his operation but no chemo as he has heart failure. Although he had a few issues after his op we thought everything was going ok. Saw specialist on Mon of this week and he said everything was ok, but come down with a bang on Thurs when Dr rang to say his cea level has gone from 1.6 til 28.6. Dr very concerned with this and has ordered a ct scan and colostomy. I have read that cea test can sometimes come back high with nothing wrong. Has anyone had a high reading with no cancer reacurrance.

Liz Blakelands

@tuson I don't have experience of it myself but I know that others on this forum have had raised CEA levels which have been nothing to do with a tumour. They can go up for a slight infection and then go back down again. It is good that your medical team is taking it as a possible indicator and doing the CT scan and colonoscopy, they are looking after your hubby well. Please try to take things one day at a time. All the best, Liz :x::x:

bettebette

Hello @tuson I don't often comment these days but here I have form, my CEA was a cause for concern for a long time and even at last testing was 23, however it was decided that for me it was not a valid measure and the test was stopped for the last year of my surveillance (I was given NED in February this year)

I am attaching a link which I found useful, although it has some conflicting elements it does emphasise the use of CEA results only as one part of a diagnostic process, as @Liz Blakelands has said your husband's team are taking it as a possible indicator and the other tests have been ordered as a check.
Sending good wishes to you both for the outcome :x::x:
www.exeterlaboratory.com/test/carcinoembryonic-antigen-cea/