Blood test for oncology

To date, there are many ways to identify cancer even in the early stages. The analysis of blood in oncology allows not only to determine that the tumor develops in the body, but also to establish its location, age and other characteristics.

What gives a general blood test for oncology?

It happens that a person has donated blood for a general analysis to check the sugar level, and in the laboratory has received a referral to an oncologist. The fact is that the blood counts for oncological diseases change significantly and this can be seen even with the most simple study. The fact that there is a malignant or benign tumor in the body is evidenced by such items of the general blood test:

Each of these factors individually and all of them in total can indicate health problems, but it is impossible to establish a definitive diagnosis with their help. Therefore, if there is a suspicion of oncology, a clinical blood test is complemented by other studies.

Biochemical analysis of blood in oncology

Not everyone knows which blood test shows oncology, but the answer to this question is well known to medical workers. With increasing levels of white blood cells in the blood, fast PSB and low hemoglobin, any doctor will write you a direction for a biochemical blood test. The interpretation of this blood test for oncology is quite complicated, but it allows you to accurately determine which organ is affected and even track the dynamics of tumor growth. Indicators of blood analysis in oncology may contain different oncomarkers. These are special substances that the body produces by reacting to a malignant tumor. And in each organ of our body, the cancer markers have a special structure. Usually it is a protein, the ratio of which in the blood throughout life changes slightly, but with cancer, these changes become very sharp.

Here are the main types of oncomarkers:

  1. REA is an oncomarker of tumors and their metastases in the lungs, intestines, liver, stomach, mammary glands, gall bladder and other organs.
  2. CA 19-9 is a pancreatic cancer marker.
  3. PSA is the main prostate cancer marker.
  4. CA 15-3 is a carcinoma of the breast carcinoma.
  5. Beta-hCG is an oncomarker of embryonic cancers (nephroblastoma and neuroblastoma).
  6. CA-125 is an ovarian cancer marker.
  7. AFP is a cancer marker of liver cancer.

The blood for these tests is taken from the vein no earlier than 8 hours after the last meal. In order to make a diagnosis, it is necessary to track the level of oncomarkers in dynamics. For this reason, after 3-4 days, a reanalysis is usually performed. Sometimes the gap between the blood intake can be longer.

With the help of a biochemical blood test for oncomarkers, the following data can be obtained:

After this information is studied in detail, the patient is offered to make an MRI to get a full picture of the nature of the tumor and metastases, if any. Such cancers as lymphoma or leukemia are determined exclusively by the analysis of blood, it is impossible to fix them visually on an MRI. Additional studies usually include puncture cells directly from the tumor to accurately calculate the composition of chemotherapy drugs.