Why are doctors so aprehensive about doing a CEA test for cancer?!
Question:
Why are doctors so aprehensive about doing a CEA test for cancer?
Answers:
CEA is a blood test that in certain instances can be very helpful but in others very confusing. One must be careful in using this test as it is not perfect. It is neither sensitive nor specific. It is generally used with our patients with colon cancer. If a patient has colon cancer then we check this value. If elevated it is very helpful to follow our patients for recurrence. If elevated, our patients sometimes have surgery/chemotherapy. This should generally normalize. We then follow the CEA level every several months to monitor for an additional elevation. If it becomes elevated again, it generally means recurrence. We need to re-image and find it quickly.
It should not be used as a screening test as it will miss many cancers. Once again, it is not specific either.
I hope this helps............