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The following excerpt is taken from Appendix B of Colon & Rectal Cancer: A Comprehensive Guide for Patients & Families by Lorraine Johnston, copyright 2000 by O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. For book orders/information, call (800) 998-9938. Permission is granted to print and distribute this excerpt for noncommercial use as long as the above source is included. The information in this article is meant to educate and should not be used as an alternative for professional medical care.

The following tables will provide you with approximate quantitative information about certain blood test results. Test results can be influenced by many things, such as how the blood was drawn and stored, whether the patient exercised recently or was dehydrated, how tight the tourniquet was, medications taken by the patient, and so on. Your lab will display its own norms alongside your test results. These norms may differ from other sources, as each lab recalculates their norms as their data accumulate.

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in particular is subject to differing assay calibrations by different labs, and is known to fluctuate throughout the day and in response to noncancerous conditions such as pregnancy, infections that affect the liver, and changes in smoking or alcohol consumption habits. CA19-9 and TPA are of limited usefulness because their sensitivity and specificity for colorectal cancers still are being scrutinized.

In order to evaluate correctly any cancer antigen test results you receive, you and your doctor should verify what range of values your laboratory is using, and note previous values among your own medical records to detect a trend, which may be more meaningful than an absolute value.

Cancer Antigens

Test Name Low Normal High Normal, Nonsmoker High Normal, Smoker

CEA
CA19-9
TPA
CA 15-3
0
0
0
0
3.0 ng/ml
37 U/ml¹
187,000 U/ml²
25 U/ml - 40 U/ml³
5.0 ng/ml
N/A
N/A
N/A

Complete Blood Counts in Normal Adults

Test Name Low High

Red cell distribution width (RDW), CV (percents)
White cell count (WBC) x 109/liter blood
Platelet count (PLT) x109/liter blood
Mean platelet volume (MPV)
Mean corpuscular volume, fl/red cell (MCV)
Mean corpuscular hemoglobin, pg/red cell (MCH)
Mean corpus. hemgl. conc., g/dl red cells (MCHC)
11.5
3.9
140
6.3
80.0
26.4
31.0
14.5
11.3
450
10.3
100
34.0
36.0

White Cell Differentials (percents):

Polys
Bands
Lymphocytes
Monocytes
Eosinophils
Basophils
Atypical lymphocytes
42%
0%
15%
0%
0%
0%
0%
78%
4%
45%
12%
7%
2%
4%

Complete Blood Counts in Normal Adults:
Red Cell Counts by Gender

Men Women

Test Name Low High Low High

Red cell count (RBC) x 10¹²/l blood
Hemoglobin (HB) g/dl blood
Hematocrit (HCT)
4.52
14.0
0.40
5.90
18.0
0.52
4.1
12.3
0.36
5.10
15.3
0.45

Other Blood Values in Normal Adults

Test Name Low High

Direct bilirubin, mg/dl (Bili)
Total bilirubin, mg/dl (Bili)
Blood urea nitrogen, mg/dl (BUN)
Cholesterol
Creatinine, mg/dl (CRT)
Calcium mg/dl (Ca)
Chlorine mEq.l (Cl)
Potassium, mEq/l (K)
Phosphate mg/dl (P)
Sodium, mEq/l (Na)
Magnesium, mEq/l (Mg)
Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate mm/hr (ESR)
Glucose, mg/dl
Lactate Dehydrogenase u/l (LDH)
Albumin gm/dl (Alb)
Alkaline Phosphatase (AlkP) u/l
(ALT, formerly SGPT) u/l
(AST, formerly SGOT) u/l
Thyroid TSH
Thyroid free T4
Uric acid, mg/dl
0
0
8
130
0.6
8.5
95
3.5
2.5
135
1.5
0
65
100
3.5
50
5
10
0.5
1
2.5
0.4
1.0
25
200
1.5
10.5
100
5.0
4.5
145
2.5
20
100
190
5.0
135
40
50
5.0
4
8.0

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