Talk Cancer

Question:

Mom’s got Stage IV colon cancer with tons of mets.  She started Xeloda 3 weeks ago and the CEA was 56.6 then.  After two weeks of xeloda and one week off, she took another CEA and it was 172.1.  Why would it triple if she’s on chemo? Isn’t it supposed to go down? Unfortunately this may be a sign that the chemo isn’t working. Michele

Killian, Let me begin by agreeing and echoing the thoughts of both Bookbabe and Cat. First, use your time wisely and second, the rising CEA level is a pretty definite sign that the Xeloda is not working well. But if I read your post correctly your mums only been on Xeloda for a few weeks, max. Please, please, please take note of the fact that the rising CEA level may be a sign that the Xeloda isn’t working well– YET!. It took over six weeks for the Xeloda to start working with me. Like your Mom, my CEA went up and up, then suddenly fell as the Xeloda kicked in. The Onc’s generally know what they are doing and if they thinks it’s a good idea to stay on the Xeloda a tad longer, I’d listen to’em. I’d hate to lose my mum earlier than absolutely necessary just because I didn’t think the drugs were working to kill the cancer ‘fast enough’. BTW, IF your tumor expresses CEA, the CEA level is a number that is related to the VOLUME of cancer in your body, so you can estimate that there is about 3 times more cancer to worry abut NOW than there was three weeks ago. Still, don’t let the numbers scare you. My CEA level is well over 6000 (that’s right! Six THOUSAND!!) and I’m still quite well. I can walk wherever I want, drive my car, cook and otherwise take care of my own dietary needs. I wash myself and don’t need any help to use the toilet. And I compose posts to usenet and continue to insist that I am Napoleon to all those who do me the kindness of asking. If you didn’t know me well, when saw me for the first time, you’d likely think that I’m a reasonably healthy guy with a bum leg that forces him to use a cane. When my liver tumors were the size of eye glass lenses, my CEA was well over 1000. When those two tumors were shrunken by the Chemo to the size of cigarette filters, my CEA fell to about 90. Now, you cannot make tumor size estimates between two patients based solely on CEA levels. MY tumors could produce 1/3 the CEA as yours, or they may produce 300 times as much. The point I’m trying to make is that the CEA marker is a INDICATOR of how well the treatment is working. Don’t panic if it triples unless your oncologist panics before you do.  If he/she sees the CEA level and yells YIPES before they can guard their response, THAT’s when I’d start to worry. That about expends the supply of ‘pearls of wisdom’ from THIS RatCave, Killian. Sorry I don’t have any more. Lowkey the lowly Labrat

Response:

Mom’s got Stage IV colon cancer with tons of mets.  She started Xeloda 3 weeks ago and the CEA was 56.6 then.  After two weeks of xeloda and one week off, she took another CEA and it was 172.1.  Why would it triple if she’s on chemo? Isn’t it supposed to go down?

Unfortunately this may be a sign that the chemo isn’t working. Michele – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text –

Response:

Mom’s got Stage IV colon cancer with tons of mets.  She started Xeloda 3 weeks ago and the CEA was 56.6 then.  After two weeks of xeloda and one week off, she took another CEA and it was 172.1.  Why would it triple if she’s on chemo? Isn’t it supposed to go down?

Hello Killian, http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/cea/test.html When CEA levels decrease to