At a glance
| Analyte | Carcinoembryonic antigen |
|---|---|
| Also called | Carcinoembryonic antigen |
| Method | Two-site sandwich chemiluminescence immunoassay |
| Sample type | Serum, Plasma |
| Panel | Tumour marker |
| Discipline | CLIA immunoassay |
| Brand | Mindray |
What CEA measures
Carcinoembryonic antigen is a glycoprotein measured as part of monitoring and follow-up in patients under the care of a physician, most commonly in colorectal contexts. Like all tumour markers it is used to follow a trend rather than to answer a question from a single result, because the concentration is influenced by conditions that have nothing to do with malignancy, including smoking and a range of benign inflammatory and gastrointestinal disorders. Serial measurements on the same patient, run on the same platform and interpreted by the requesting physician, are what make it useful. It is not a screening test, and a result in either direction is interpreted clinically rather than in isolation.
How Philippine laboratories run it
Requested by oncology and surgical services on patients already under follow-up, so demand is concentrated in hospitals with a cancer service and consists largely of repeat testing on a known patient list rather than new requests. That makes consumption stable and forecastable but relatively low in volume, and it means continuity matters more here than elsewhere: because the value of the marker lies in the trend, a laboratory that changes platform or method mid-follow-up introduces a step the clinician has to allow for. Keeping supply uninterrupted on one platform is part of the clinical service.
Analyzers it runs on
Calibrator, controls and companion tests
Delivered with the rest of the tumour marker panel, on the same schedule as CEA.
Storage and handling
Refrigerated, upright, and not frozen.
Buying CEA in the Philippines
CEA is supplied for the CL-2600i and CL-900i. We deliver it with AFP and CA 19-9, because a run held up waiting on a separate order costs the same shift a stock-out does. Delivery is scheduled against your monthly CEA count, so the bench is not rationing tests in the last week of the month. How we plan clia immunoassay supply.
Questions about CEA
Can a tumour marker be used to screen a well person?
No, and this is the most important thing to understand about the whole group. Tumour markers are used in monitoring and follow-up under the direction of the requesting physician. They are raised in a range of benign conditions and can be normal in the presence of disease, so a result on an unselected person is difficult to act on and can be actively misleading. Interpretation is always clinical.
Why does the laboratory keep results on the same platform?
Because these markers are followed as a trend across months or years, and different manufacturers’ assays do not necessarily give interchangeable numbers. A change of platform mid-follow-up can produce an apparent shift that reflects the method rather than the patient. Laboratories therefore try to keep a patient’s serial results on one platform, and note the method when that is not possible.
Order CEA
Tell us your monthly CEA volume and we will quote a supply schedule for CL-2600i. We reply within one business day.
Request a quotation