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Elevated CEA Level
by lanita69, Jul 22, 2008 08:04AM
Hi. I am 38 years old and have been experience pain in the lower left quadrant of my abdomen, change in bowel habits, weight loss for the pass 4-6 months. I was referred by my primary care physcian to at GI doctor after bloodwork was done. I met with the GI doctor yesterday and he explained to me that my CEA level was 45. I am scheduled for a colonoscopy on Monday but am really scared as everything i am reading says that normally anytime the CEA level is greater than 20 then it is usually a malignant type of cancer. Does anyone know of anyone that has had a level this high? Or if something else could make it that high? I am a non-smoker.....any answers would be greatly appreciated....
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Hello,
How are you?
Going by your symptoms and the elevated levels of CEA, the possibility of cancer of the bowel especially colorectal cancer cannot be ruled out. Non-cancerous conditions that cause inflammation such as pancreatitis, cirrhosis of the liver and bowel diseases can also raise levels above normal. Moreover, the plasma CEA assay does not possess the sensitivity or the specificity required to discriminate between localized malignant tumors and benign disorders.
CEA independently cannot be used to establish a diagnosis of cancer. Other tests like sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy and biopsy are required to make a confirmatory diagnosis.
If you need any more information, then pls do post us.