Carcinoembryonic antigen 6 needs to be alerted to cancer if it is outside the normal reference range because it can be elevated in neoplastic diseases such as intestinal and gastric cancers, but it is not certain about cancer because carcinoembryonic antigen can also be elevated in non-neoplastic diseases such as pancreatitis and tuberculosis, and it can also be elevated in patients who smoke.
Carcinoembryonic antigen has different detection methods, so it will correspond to different normal reference values, for example, the reference value of electrochemical method is 0-5ng/ml, chemiluminescence method is 0-3.4ng/ml, ELISA method is <2.5ug/L. If these are used as the references, 6 is out of the normal range and mildly elevated.
Carcinoembryonic antigen can be elevated in neoplastic diseases such as intestinal cancer, stomach cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, etc. The magnitude of elevation may be small in the early stage, and with the progression of the tumor, the magnitude of elevation becomes larger, so carcinoembryonic antigen should be alerted to cancer even when it is mildly elevated.
However, non-neoplastic diseases such as pancreatitis, tuberculosis, hypothyroidism, and patients who smoke can also cause mild elevation of carcinoembryonic antigen, which requires attention.
Patients with carcinoembryonic antigen 6 are advised to refer to the reference value of the testing organization, if it is within the normal reference range there is no need to worry about cancer for the time being, if it exceeds the normal reference value, it is recommended to ask the specialist of the testing organization for a detailed interpretation.