Introduction
Colorectal cancer is not a disease that can be diagnosed by specific blood counts. On the contrary, the determination of blood values plays a rather minor role in colorectal cancer diagnostics. Nevertheless, blood samples are taken from all patients suspected of having colorectal cancer. This has to do with the fact that the functionality of numerous organ systems can be checked by this. Some blood values also provide information on how colorectal cancer develops.
Can colon cancer be detected in the blood?
Colorectal cancer is not a diagnosis that can be made on the basis of specific blood values. To be able to diagnose colorectal cancer reliably, a colonoscopy must be performed. During this colonoscopy, tissue samples are taken from the suspicious mucosal areas.
These are examined under the microscope (histology). Only on the basis of this microscopic evaluation of the tissue samples obtained can colorectal cancer be diagnosed reliably.
- Colonoscopy
- Colon Cancer Prevention
What tumor markers for colorectal cancer are there?
There are so-called tumor markers for many tumor diseases. These are blood values that increase with certain tumor diseases. The tumor marker for colorectal cancer is the so-called carcinoembryonic antigen, abbreviated as CEA.
CEA is not only a tumor marker for colorectal cancer but can also be elevated in tumors of the pancreas (pancreatic carcinoma), lung (bronchial carcinoma), breast (breast cancer), stomach (stomach carcinoma), ovaries (ovarian carcinoma) and thyroid (medullary thyroid carcinoma). An elevated CEA value may also be present in certain benign diseases. For example, liver diseases such as cirrhosis or hepatitis, as well as chronic inflammatory intestinal diseases.
The value may also be slightly elevated in chronic alcohol consumption or in smokers. You can find additional information on this under: TumormarkerThe name Tumormarker is somewhat misleading for the medical layman. Although a tumor marker is a blood value that can provide information about a specific tumor disease, it is not a blood value that can be used to identify a tumor.
However, tumor markers cannot be used for the reliable diagnosis of a tumor disease. Rather, they play a decisive role in assessing the course of cancer after diagnosis. For example, a decrease in the tumor marker during the course of colorectal cancer therapy indicates a successful therapy. A renewed increase of the tumor marker after a successful therapy, however, indicates a recurrence of the tumor. However, colorectal cancer can never be diagnosed on the basis of the tumor marker alone.
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