Has Anyone Known Anyone With A Cea Level Of 96? Does That Look Really Bad For Cancer?

I have a friend whose mom just got her CEA levels checked and is 81 years old and scored a level of 96 – from what I have read you shold be no higher than 5 and that is if your smoke. Can someone that’s had cancer tell me what a 96 suggest. Is it concerning in that cancer is more than likely present? Thanks!


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2 Responses to “Has Anyone Known Anyone With A Cea Level Of 96? Does That Look Really Bad For Cancer?”

  1. You are correct at CEA under 5 is considered normal for a smoker and 2.5 for a nonsmoker. Even though it is out of the normal range they can go as high as 9 maybe 11 in an older longtime smoker and still not have cancer. However, I have never seen a patient with a CEA of 96 who did not have cancer.

  2. The CEA levels can be suggestive of cancer but are not diagnostic of it.
    The CEA levels are commonly elevated in GI cancers, but may also be high in certain other adenocarcinomas like that of lung.
    Get an assessment done for likelihood of cancer.
    If it is cancer the site and staging of disease, will be informative of prognosis rather than the CEA levels.

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