CEA Blood Test - More Information

The CEA test, also known as the CEA blood test, CEA lab test or the carcinoembryonic antigen test, measures the CEA blood level.

CEA is a special type of protein that is produced by GI tissue in a growing fetus. In healthy adults, it is largely unmeasurable. However, in people with various types of cancer, including colon, gastric, lung and breast cancers, the CEA test levels increase and it is useful for tracking the response to treatment. CEA blood levels can also be useful for staging cancer as levels tend to be higher in cancers that have spread throughout the body.

Getting a CEA test near you at a Quest Diagnostics lab is a straightforward process. Simply order online and get your blood drawn at the selected lab location. Once your CEA test results are available, you will receive an email so you can access the lab report. The CEA test results, as one can see on the sample report provided above, will be reported in ng/mL units and can be compared against a reference range provided by the lab. As can be seen, the reference range for CEA varies on whether one is a smoker or not.

Regardless of reference ranges, however, CEA lab test levels cannot be used in isolation as absolute evidence of the presence or absence of a disease and all results should be evaluated in conjunction with a licensed medical provider.

This CEA test is sometimes ordered with other cancer screening markers, including the AFP test, CA 19-9 test, CA 125 test, and the ColoVantage test.