“Blood test result?”
Bloodwork-
Carcinoembryonic Ag result: 5.7 (five point seven)
Cancer Antigen - GI (CA 19-9) result: 15.7 (fifteen point seven)
I was told by my doctor that these results may point to pancreatic cancer. Is this true?
Symptoms include but are not limited to; extreme abdominal and back pain with intense flare-ups, extreme fatigue, throwing up food that has not been digested, frequent hiccups, unable to eat some days and can only eat a little bit, skin, hair and stool changes, extreme nausea, swelling of stomach, episodes of itching, neurological/personality changes, etc
Thank you very much for your time.
Carcinoembryonic Ag result: 5.7 (five point seven)
Cancer Antigen - GI (CA 19-9) result: 15.7 (fifteen point seven)
I was told by my doctor that these results may point to pancreatic cancer. Is this true?
Symptoms include but are not limited to; extreme abdominal and back pain with intense flare-ups, extreme fatigue, throwing up food that has not been digested, frequent hiccups, unable to eat some days and can only eat a little bit, skin, hair and stool changes, extreme nausea, swelling of stomach, episodes of itching, neurological/personality changes, etc
Thank you very much for your time.
Female | 48 years old
Complaint duration: 5 years
3 Answers
Gastroenterologist|GastroenterologyGastroenterologist
Those blood tests are nonspecific and should not be used to screen for cancer. There is no medical literature indicating their utility for cancer screening. Your symptoms are not consistent with pancreatic cancer, which can be looked for using imaging such at CT scan or MRI, but only for high clinical suspicion.
I don’t know why your physician started with tumor markers which are not very high, although you did not give the normal range for them. These tumor markers are good to follow a diagnosed cancer before and after therapy to guide us if the cancer is coming back. Also, it helps to see how advanced cancer is before surgery or chemotherapy indicating spreading of tumor to other organs particularly the liver when they are very high. Mild elevation of tumor markers such as CEA which is used in the colon cancer is common in smokers. In your case, I would recommend upper endoscopy, US of gallbladder as well as CT scan of abdomen with contrast before I order tumor markers.
Hi.
It’s best to get some real tests in order to confirm that your symptoms are not due to something serious. It’s not clear why your doctor ordered tumor markers to start with. Those are usually done later on, after other tests like GI endoscopy or imaging studies actually show a lesion. Tumor markers usually have prognostic value and are not really used for diagnosis. Quite often primary care physicians order these tests earlier than necessary and that may be confusing in many cases.
It’s best to get some real tests in order to confirm that your symptoms are not due to something serious. It’s not clear why your doctor ordered tumor markers to start with. Those are usually done later on, after other tests like GI endoscopy or imaging studies actually show a lesion. Tumor markers usually have prognostic value and are not really used for diagnosis. Quite often primary care physicians order these tests earlier than necessary and that may be confusing in many cases.
