CEA High...Now all kinds of tests

sunangel27
sunangel27 Member Posts: 310
edited June 2014 in LCIS (Lobular Carcinoma In Situ)

In May my CEA levels were high.....then in August they were higher. My onc. is now doing all kinds of tests on me....      Colonoscopy, was normal, Upper GI, was normal.... last week a CT Scan on chest...they found two nodes, 1- 11 mm, and 2- 11 x 18 mm, plus two more smaller ones. Now he is setting me up with surgeon to do a biopsy which I will have, he says a two day hospital stay for.  And he has also set me up with a CT scan of my pelvis and Stomach next week.

My question.....anyone else gone thru this or similar? I had LCIS and Atypical Hyperplascia and a lumpectomy done last Dec. 2010      He has checked my blood every 6 weeks or so and there was a bit of a gap because of my work/home schedule...my fault......but anyway......just a bit confused......does he think it is cancer somewhere again?!  He is fairly quiet toned when I go in now and he use to be all smiley! Just confused!!!

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  • leaf
    leaf Member Posts: 8,188
    edited November 2011

    I've never had this happen to me personally.  I don't think I've ever had a CEA level measured.

     From this Medline Plus website, it sounds like CEA can be high due to various cancers, or for some non-cancer conditions, or for no reason whatsoever.  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003574.htm

    I am guessing that since you have some larger chest nodes, he wants to make as sure as he can that you don't have something else going on.  

    The only additional comment I can make is that I think it can be pretty difficult to diagnose pancreatic cancer.  My friend had pancreatic cancer.  Her symptoms were abdominal pain, and loss of apetite and nausea.  She was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer 2 months after onset of symptoms.  I can't remember what imaging they used, but her first imaging was negative (all normal), but barely showed up something fuzzy on a pancreatic focused imaging.  A relative had his pancreatic cancer diagnosed (very early stage) when he had hernia surgery. 

    Since you have LCIS and chest nodes, it sounds quite unlikely you would have pancreatic cancer.

    When I've had puzzled doctors, sometimes it has helped me when I ask my doc to share some of their thought processes.  But sometimes when I've done that, the medical jargon is so thick I had very little idea what he was saying.

    Thinking of you, and hoping it is just a big NOTHING.

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  • sunangel27
    sunangel27 Member Posts: 310
    edited November 2011

    Thank you so much Leaf for your reply....... It just sucks so much waiting and I haven't found much on the internet......or in here reading posts about it......

    Again, thank you and I appreciate so much your thinking about me! :)
    Hugs!
    Paula

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  • KellyMaryland
    KellyMaryland Member Posts: 350
    edited November 2011

    Paula, hoping that your waiting comes to an end soon and that all is benign and well.  Take care, Kelly

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  • lovetodance
    lovetodance Member Posts: 9
    edited November 2011

    CEA worry

    my pre-op CEA was only .7(with tumor inside), stayed between 1 and 1.3 until after  one month after chemo. began tamoxifen and begun to rise; 2.7-3.7-3.6- 5.4, 3.9, 4.7, 6.0, and 5.4 again. had second PET a month after began to rise and it was ok. it still showed inflammation along mastectomy scars and thyroiditis which later discovered hypothyroidism. upper normal range in my lab is 5. onc said it was tamoxifen and thinks is nothing to worry. I looked and found only one reference about hormonal treatment for BC and elevated CEA but not specifically tamoxifen. did find studies that hypothyroidism can cause elevated CEA. My ca-15.3 has always been under 10 so its good.Im having my last herceptin next week and onc wants to do another PET before port removal.Had a fecal occult blood screening for colon cancer and it was ok. I have asked other onc's online and say CEA is crap for breast cancer. anyone dealing with this CEA issue with tamoxifen or hypothyroid?

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  • leaf
    leaf Member Posts: 8,188
    edited November 2011

    I have been on tamoxifen and was hypothyroid (just had my levothyroxine dose increased last month), and nobody, including my onc, has ever ordered a CEA test for me.

    Each person has different risk factors and concurrent diseases, and of course different docs do things differently.  One of my General Practitioners, who I think was a female Sherlock Holmes for diagnosing my thyroid condition, thought that doing electrolyte measurements, when you didn't have some other suspicion of having some condition, was just 'asking for trouble'.

    Of course, this could change in the future, even the near future.

    This abstract opined:

    As of today, biomarkers do not replace but augment imaging and other existing screening approaches.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22112316  (Dec 2011)

    Maybe some people are getting CEA measurements for monitoring, not screening, and maybe that's different, particularly for some people.

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