Over the past few decades, mankind has managed to make several scientific breakthroughs, especially in the field of medicine. Many drugs were discovered, vaccines were created, many serious diseases were cured. However, there is still no absolutely effective way to treat cancer. Meanwhile, oncology claims several million lives of adults and children every year.
Intestinal cancer is one of the most common malignant diseases, characterized by rapid development and not very favorable prognosis. Especially low chances of survival with late detection of pathology. Therefore, it is so important to recognize the signs of the disease in time, conduct timely laboratory diagnostics, and, if necessary, undergo treatment.
Blood testing is the most common method used in medical diagnosis. Will a blood test show the development of colon cancer? Let's figure it out. First you need to understand what kind of disease it is, what are the causes and symptoms of its appearance, how blood test indicators change in cancerintestines.
Illness concept
Intestinal cancer is a disease in which a malignant neoplasm occurs on the mucous membrane of the small or large intestine.
In almost 90% of cases, it comes from glandular cells, called adenocarcinoma. This tumor is prone to rapid development and severe malignancy (spread of metastases). Secondary malignant lesions spread to the liver, bones, lungs, and also to the brain.
Intestinal cancer is one of the most common diseases among other oncologies. It ranks second in the number of patients among women, second only to breast cancer. Colon cancer is also relatively common in men, ranking third after lung and prostate cancer.
The main group of patients - people over 45 years old. The ratio of men and women is about the same.
Causes of disease development
What are they?
- There are a number of oncological diseases, the development of which the diet has no effect. Colon cancer is not one of them. According to statistics, people who regularly eat red meat are 1.5 times more likely to get sick than vegetarians.
- Drinking alcohol. Ethyl alcohol is partially absorbed in the large intestine, thereby damaging the glandular cells of its mucosa. Therefore, adenocarcinoma is much more common among drinkers.
- Hereditary predisposition. People whose next of kin were sickbowel cancer are at risk. It especially rises if one of the parents or siblings, sisters got cancer at the age of 45, younger and older. Such people require regular examination of the intestine for the purpose of early diagnosis of tumors or precancerous forms of the disease. There are two forms of predisposition.
- Hereditary adenomatosis - polyposis. With this form, a person has many benign polyps that can degenerate into cancer.
- Hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer. Carriers of this form are prone to the fact that a malignant process can develop in several places in the intestine at the same time.
Symptoms of early bowel cancer
Any oncological disease is almost asymptomatic for a long time. Colon cancer is no exception. In the first stages, when the tumor is still small, the patient may experience:
- general malaise;
- fatigue;
- alternating constipation and diarrhea;
- feeling of heaviness and bloating in the abdomen;
- increase in temperature to subfebrile values without any signs of a cold;
- appearance of blood in the feces;
- loss of appetite.
This is where the first signs of bowel cancer end. However, in practice there are cases when the patient feels good, up to stage 3 or 4.
Forecast
The percentage of survival directly depends on the stage of oncology. If the cancer was diagnosed at the first stage,the prognosis is favorable. 95% of patients manage to defeat the disease and continue to lead a full life.
At the second stage, when the tumor has "taken root" and increased in size, every fourth person dies (the survival rate is 75%). This figure is still good, because most people have a real chance of recovery.
At the third stage, the formation gives metastases to neighboring organs, which significantly worsens the prognosis for the patient. The probability of living at least another five years does not exceed 20%. The fact is that secondary malignant foci also increase and spread. It is extremely difficult to stop this process.
If the tumor has metastasized to neighboring organs, the prognosis becomes sharply negative - only 6% of patients survive.
Therefore, it is so important to detect the development of oncology in a timely manner. To begin with, a person must check the indicators of a blood test. In bowel cancer, they undergo some changes.
CBC
Carrying out this type of laboratory research is a standard procedure for examining a person for any disease. Indeed, according to many indicators, doctors can judge the general state of the patient's he alth, and if any deviations from the norm are detected, they can suspect a particular disease. However, it often happens that a complete blood count is normal, but a person nevertheless has a malignant process. Especially in the first stages, there is no change in the blood. It happens that the level of hemoglobin is a little low, but not always.
Some blood test values for bowel cancer are higher than normal. For example, the number of leukocytes may be increased, but this sign indicates a huge variety of various pathologies (for example, with any inflammation, leukocytes increase).
In addition, the level of ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate) may be increased. But in this case, the doctor will suggest the development of a viral or bacterial infection, rather than cancer.
Will a blood test show bowel cancer? No, because it is simply impossible to suspect this pathology based on laboratory tests alone.
Blood chemistry
In addition to the general, the patient is also prescribed a biochemical blood test. But in this case, as with a general blood test, in the early stages of bowel cancer, many indicators may be normal.
There may be an increase in urea levels. This often occurs when the intestinal lumen is blocked and intestinal obstruction occurs.
What does a blood test show for bowel cancer? Often in patients with this disease, the level of CRP, a protein that indicates the course of any inflammatory process in the body, is significantly increased. An increase in the level of this substance usually occurs even before the first signs of bowel cancer appear. Therefore, with the help of this protein, it is possible to detect the disease at an early stage.
Can dothe conclusion is that the general and biochemical blood tests for bowel cancer are far from always sufficiently informative, they often do not allow drawing any specific conclusions. Fortunately, in medical diagnostics there is an analysis for markers. These indicators of a blood test for bowel cancer are significantly higher than the norm.
Tumor marker analysis
This is a specific laboratory test in which the patient's blood is checked for the level of certain proteins formed during malignant processes in certain human organs.
Thus, if a patient is suspected of developing bowel cancer, he is prescribed tests for such oncological markers as CEA and CA 19-9. They will be discussed in more detail below.
CEA blood test
Cancer-embryonic antigen - a protein compound, the level of which increases when a patient develops such diseases as: cancer of the intestines, cervix (in women), breast, lung, liver and bladder. The level of antigen increases most strongly in the initial stages of oncology. The amount of this marker in the blood may increase slightly with nicotine abuse.
So, the CEA norm for non-smokers is no more than 2.5 ng/ml. For smokers - no more than 5 ng / ml. I must say that with the development of a malignant process, these figures can increase tenfold.
Blood test for CA 19-9
CA 19-9 antigen - a marker indicating cancer of the intestine, stomach, pancreas. In addition, its level can be increased with a benign formation in these organs.
Normalrange of values - from 0 to 35 U/ml.
It is worth noting that these figures may differ from those presented, depending on the laboratory in which this analysis is performed.
Diagnosis of bowel cancer
Consists in carrying out a set of procedures and begins with a medical interview and examination of the patient, collecting a family history.
If a patient has first-line relatives with oncological pathologies, then he is at risk. Examination of such a person should be carried out with particular care.
After he is assigned laboratory blood tests. They were discussed above.
In addition, colon cancer diagnostic methods such as x-rays, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, colonoscopy, and biopsy can be used.
The last method is assigned if a neoplasm was detected during the other ones. In order to establish its nature and degree of malignancy, doctors take a sample of the tumor and send it for histological analysis.
Conclusion
Cancer is a dangerous disease that in many cases leads to death. This happens due to the patient's too late seeking medical help and the untimely diagnosis of intestinal cancer. In particular, this applies to malignant diseases of the small and large intestine.
To avoid this, everyone should be aware of what tests to take for bowel cancer orif he is suspected. With this information, you can protect yourself and loved ones from the development of the disease or from its progression.
You should not rely on the fact that when oncology occurs in the body, it will immediately become noticeable to a person. Symptoms in the early stages of bowel cancer are practically absent. In most cases, they are so mild that the patient feels completely he althy.
It should be remembered that blood tests for bowel cancer will not give an accurate answer about the presence or absence of pathology, but can help in deciding on further diagnostic tactics. For example, if the level of oncological markers is higher than normal, this will serve as a signal for action for further examination. If you do it in time, you can literally save your life.
