On the show, There were two guest doctors on the show talking about this new way to detect for breast cancer
Here is the link:
Feel free to watch the clip!
SO you heard them. They can now detect for breast cancer with a simple blood test. It seemed a little hard to believe, so I decided to do some independent research.
And Golly Gee, were they right!
I found
out that through a simple blood test, that it is a new way to detect for breast
cancer. There are certain markers that are found in your blood that would
indicate the development of breast cancer.
These markers are actually
proteins that would be circulating your
Here is a list of the markers
that your doctor may test for:
- CA
15.3:
this marker is used to find breast, as well as ovarian cancers
- TRU-QUANT and CA 27.29: this markers
checks for the presence of breast cancer
- CA125: this marker is used to test for
ovarian cancer and its recurrence, as well as the recurrence of breast cancer
- CEA
(carcinoembryonic antigen): a
marker for the presence of colon, lung, and liver cancers. This marker may
be used to see if the breast cancer has metastasized to other parts of the
body.
- Circulating
tumor cells: this
marker is actually checking for tumor cells. These tumor cells are cell
that broke off from the cancer and are actually circulating through your
blood stream. This marker is used
more quantitatively. Meaning, that the higher the count, the more likely
the cancer is growing, and metastasizing, which is something that you don’t
want.
Because this a very new
breakthrough, it has yet to be proven fully successful. Also, before
considering to take this test, please talk to your doctor to find out which
form of detection is best for you.
References:
Merna, I hope this new detection method will not be as a financial burden as the standard procedure. It’s quite exciting to hear that a simple blood test could someday replace expensive BRCA1&2 testing. I am curious, however, as to why the presence of such proteins (CA 15.3) would indicate the presence of breast or ovarian cancers. Thanks for sharing this, Merna.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this testing is less expensive than the genetic testing because if it is, it could probably save people a lot of money! It is great that they have a potential method to detecting breast cancer through just one blood test and I wonder what exactly in the blood binds to these markers. This is incredibly interesting and has the potential to make a huge breakthrough!
ReplyDeleteI wonder also if this is less expensive. We definitely need less expensive genetic testing.
ReplyDelete