If you are suspected to have cancer, your doctor could order some cancer blood tests or alternative laboratory tests, like an analysis of your body waste or a diagnostic test of a suspicious area, to help guide the diagnosing.
Blood tests usually cannot completely tell whether or not you’ve got cancer or another condition. However, they can provide required clues to your doctor about what is happening inside your body. No need to panic in the beginning.
There are certain blood tests which are used to determine whether your body has any type of cancer or not. You should keep in mind to always visit a good and reputed lab for the blood test. In such big laboratories, they take care of everything properly like the order of draw while drawing blood from your body. Some of the tests are:
- CBC or Complete Blood Count – This test is done to examine the various number of cells of blood in your body.
- Blood Protein Test – This test examines the various types of proteins present in your body.
- Tumor Marker Test – Tumor marker is a term given to chemicals which are created by tumor cells, and this test helps to find if there are any such markers present inside your body.
What your doctor is trying to find
A science laboratory carefully analyzed the samples collected for the cancer test. The samples could show cancer cells, proteins or different substances created by cancer. Blood tests can even provide your doctor with a plan of how well your organs are functioning and if they have been littered with cancer.
What would the results signify?
Results of the test should be taken fastidiously because many factors will influence the outcomes of the test, like your body’s variations or perhaps the things that you eat.
Also, remember that the conditions that are noncancerous will typically sometimes show abnormal results in the test. And, in different cases, cancer might be present in your body even if normal results come after the biopsy.
Your physician takes a look at the results of the tests to see if your levels are in normal range. He/she could compare your past test results with this result.
How would doctor find out then?
Though your urine and blood tests will give the physician some ideas, different tests are sometimes necessary to decide for the diagnosis. Most types of cancer, a diagnostic test, such as a biopsy — a process through which a sample of the damaged cell is taken for testing — sometimes is needed to make the diagnosing. Sometimes, over time the level of tumor markers are monitored. Your doctor can arrange a follow-up testing after a period. Mostly, tumor markers are used after the diagnosis of cancer. These tests can be used by your physician to find out if the treatment is moving ahead and your cancer cell is responding to the treatment or else it is growing.
In most cases, once cancer treatment is completed, the method of testing blood to determine the return of cancer isn’t helpful. Cancer and specifics associated with it should be discussed with your doctor.
