This is an automatically translated article.
The article is professionally consulted by Master, Doctor Do Thi Hoang Ha - Doctor of Biochemistry, Laboratory Department, Vinmec Hai Phong International General Hospital.Currently, many people want to detect cancer at an early stage to have timely treatment, but at the same time wonder how to do that. There are many opinions that at this stage it is necessary to have a blood test. So can blood tests help us detect cancer early?
1. Can blood tests detect cancer?
Blood tests help us find cancer markers, which are special proteins, produced by cancer cells or hormones (eg liver cancer is AFP , colon cancer is CEA , pancreatic cancer is . CA19-9, lung cancer is CYFRA 21, ovarian cancer is CA 125...)Blood test for cancer genes: This is a very new method because there is a view that cancer is caused by a mutation Genetic mutations cause, for example, blood test for breast cancer gene BRCA2, colon cancer is APC gene... This test has the ability to detect cancer at a very early stage.
Trắc nghiệm: Bạn biết gì về các yếu tố nguy cơ, chẩn đoán và điều trị ung thư tuyến tụy?
Ung thư tuyến tụy phổ biến thứ 10 trong những bệnh ung thư mới và là nguyên nhân thứ 4 gây tử vong do ung thư ở nam, nữ. Bài trắc nghiệm này sẽ kiểm tra kiến thức của bạn về các yếu tố nguy cơ, chẩn đoán và cách điều trị ung thư tuyến tụy.
Bài viết tham khảo nguồn: medicalnewstoday 2019
2. Blood test does not show 100% of cancer nature
It should be confirmed that the blood test does not show 100% of the nature of the cancer, because it can give false positive results because the blood has similar substances to the tumor. To determine if there is a cancerous tumor, it is usually necessary to repeat the test after a period of 3-6 months... If it is true that there is a cancerous tumor, these indicators will increase in proportion to the size of the tumor. . When the index increases, it will be combined with other imaging tests to identify the "subject". For example, whole body CT scan, whole body diffuse resonance imaging detects very early stage cancer. If it's a false positive, the reading will go up and down.
The most worrying thing is the phenomenon of false negatives, which means that the patient actually has cancer but the blood test cannot detect it, for example, liver cancer does not secrete AFP into the blood. This is a difficult problem, because sometimes patients think they do not have the disease, but in fact the disease still develops silently.
Xét nghiệm AFP phát hiện sớm ung thư gan
Cancer markers are also used to monitor treatment and prognosis of patients. Before treatment, the doctor will appoint a test, for example, before surgery, the index is 100 units, then after surgery, it will be reduced to a few dozen or even one or two units. But after a while of surgery, re-testing, the index was found to be high, which signaled metastasis. However, the value of cancer indicators is not absolute, it cannot accurately conclude whether you have cancer or not. However, if the test shows that the cancer markers are elevated, the doctor will base it on that to appoint more specialized diagnostic tests.
3. What types of cancer can a blood test detect?
Elevated levels of CEA in the blood may cause colorectal cancer, esophageal cancer, breast cancer, head and neck cancer, lung, stomach, liver, pancreatic, thyroid, ovarian, and breast cancer. Cervical.
Chỉ số CEA tăng cao trong máu có thể phát hiện nguy cơ nhiều bệnh ung thư khác nhau
Elevated AFP can appear in primary liver cancer, ovarian cancer, testicular cancer. Elevated CA 125 can be found in ovarian cancer, but can also be increased in lung, breast, uterine, and gastrointestinal cancers. Elevated CA 19-9 may be present in gastric, pancreatic, and other gastrointestinal cancers. Elevated CA 15-3 can be present in breast cancer, sometimes in lung cancer. Elevated HCG (outside of pregnancy) may be present in testicular cancer, choroidal cancer. CYFRA 21-1 is elevated in esophageal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and cervical cancer. In addition, Cyfra 21-1 can be elevated in diseases such as pneumonia and infections. blood, kidney failure.. PSA antigen (total PSA and free PSA) helps detect prostate cancer. Elevated CA 72-4 can appear in stomach cancer, ovarian cancer, testicular cancer. Elevated NSE (Neuro Specifc Enolase) can appear in small cell lung cancer, neuroblastoma, endocrine tumor... Elevated blood test indicators can be caused by many reasons, because Therefore, to accurately diagnose whether you have cancer or not, the patient needs to do a combination of many other tests and imaging tests such as CT scan, MRI scan, PET scan, ultrasound, endoscopy, biopsy... ( on a case-by-case basis).
To conduct blood tests quickly with accurate results, patients should seek medical facilities, reputable hospitals with full medical machines and equipment. In particular, the skill of the doctor is very important to help accurately diagnose the disease from the available laboratory indicators and accurately assess the level and health status of each patient. Based on that, provide timely and effective treatment methods.
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