Hoping you can tell me, is level of 8 on a cea blood test highly elevated?

CEA test: Carcinoembryonic antigen test is to detect response to therapy in cancer patients, especially colon cancer, with normal range of less than 2.5 (less than 5 in heavy smokers). Note that a positive test may not always be indicative of cancer. Review with your doctor.

Depends: Depends on the setting. Is this a smoker? Did the patient ever have cancer or is there active cancer? Has it been dropping, climbing or is this a first time finding? "normal" would be up to 3.5sh in non smokers and 5sh in smokers but i've seen it higher than that in some folks and frankly sometimes you can't find a good reason for it. Tumor markers have to be taken in its clinical context.