BIO-SCAN

Tumor markers are chemicals made by tumor cells that can be detected in your blood.

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But tumor markers are also produced by some normal cells in your body, and levels may be significantly elevated in noncancerous conditions. This limits the potential for tumor marker tests to help in diagnosing cancer. Only in extremely rare circumstances would such a test be considered enough to make a firm diagnosis of cancer.

 

The best way to use tumor markers in diagnosing cancer hasn't been determined. And the use of some tumor marker tests is controversial.

 

Examples of tumor markers include prostate-specific antigen (PSA) for prostate cancer, cancer antigen 125 (CA 125) for ovarian cancer, calcitonin for medullary thyroid cancer, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) for liver cancer and human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) for germ cell tumors, such as testicular cancer and ovarian cancer.