Early diagnosis of cancer is very important. If the size of the cancer is small and the cancer can be removed at an early stage before it invades the surrounding tissues, it would be most desirable. Therefore, there are tests that predict and detect cancer in a variety of ways to detect cancer as quickly as possible. Among them, the most well-known test is the cancer marker test.
When cancer occurs in our body, there are substances that rise by the malignant tumor or the body’s response to the tumor. It is precisely these substances that we use to confirm the presence of tumors as cancer markers and tumor markers. Tumor markers exist in cells, tissues, body fluids, etc. and can be measured by various test methods. Therefore, tumor marker testing is not only used to detect cancer at an early stage, but it is also used to confirm treatment response in patients who have been treated for cancer, to determine staging, and to check and monitor recurrence.
Tumor markers are increased specifically in one cancer or are found together in several types of cancer. It can also be found in both benign and malignant tumors of specific sites.
PSA tumor markers are used for early diagnosis of prostate cancer. It also appears as an increased number in Chinese characters with an enlarged prostate. AFP is also increased in liver cancer, but is also found in chronic hepatitis. CA19-9 is a useful tumor marker for pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancer, but due to its low diagnostic specificity, it is more useful for evaluating treatment response than predicting cancer. Since pancreatic cancer itself has no subjective symptoms, if CA19-9 is significantly increased in the test, I would recommend that you do another imaging test that allows you to see the pancreas in more detail.
The CEA level is a test to suspect cancer of the digestive system such as the colon, pancreas, gallbladder, and stomach. Again, although diagnostic specificity is not high, it is used to suspect the course of cancer treatment and recurrence. CA125 is a specific marker for female cancer and is mainly used to discriminate ovarian and endometrial cancer and determine its prognosis. CA15-3 is used as a breast cancer marker, especially to judge distant metastasis or therapeutic effect of breast cancer, and Cyfra21-1 is used as a lung cancer marker, but it can increase not only in cancer but also in benign diseases such as pulmonary tuberculosis and pneumonia occurring in the lungs.
Cancer marker testing is a very useful test in that it provides a clue to detect cancer in advance in asymptomatic patients, but it does not accurately indicate the occurrence of a specific cancer.
Recently, in order to reinforce this blind spot, not only cancer markers are tested alone, but various biochemical indicators in the blood that are increasing in specific cancers are simultaneously checked and meaningful probabilities are determined using big data created from test results of existing cancer patients. There are also tests that can be derived. Sensitivity and specificity are further enhanced through the interaction of various data.
It can be said that everyone is living with an invisible cancer. All cancers must be regarding 1cm in size, 1g in weight, and regarding 1 billion cells or more to be detected in screening. Cancer markers can be used to detect these invisible cancers. For those over the age of 50, who have a high cancer incidence rate, they should regularly check for tumor markers through screening, and if there is an abnormality, try to find cancer in advance by performing additional imaging tests.
Jae-cheol Lee, President of the Korean Society of Functional Medicine, President of BanH Clinic
