Over the past few decades, humanity has managed to make several scientific breakthroughs, especially in the field of medicine. Many drugs were discovered, vaccines were created, and many serious diseases were cured. However, there is still no absolutely effective way to treat cancer. Meanwhile, oncology annually takes away several million lives of adults and children.
Bowel cancer is one of the most common malignant diseases, characterized by rapid development and not very favorable prognosis. Particularly low chances of survival with the 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.
A blood test is the most common method used in medical diagnostics. Will a blood test show bowel cancer? Let's get it right. First you need to understand what kind of disease it is, what are the causes and symptoms of its appearance, how the blood test parameters for intestinal cancer change.
Concept of the disease
Bowel 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 (the spread of metastases). Secondary malignant lesions spread to the liver, bones, lungs, and also to the brain.
Bowel cancer is one of the most common diseases among other oncologies. He ranks second in the number of patients among women, second only to breast cancer. In men, intestinal cancer is also quite common, taking third place after oncology of the lungs and prostate gland.
The main group of patients is persons older than 45 years. The ratio of men and women is about the same.
Causes of the disease
What are they?
- There are a number of oncological diseases, the development of which the diet does not have any effect. Bowel cancer is not one of them. According to statistics, people who regularly eat red meat get sick 1.5 times more often than vegetarians.
- Alcohol consumption. Ethyl alcohol is partially absorbed in the colon, thereby fatally affecting the glandular cells of its mucosa. Therefore, alcohol lovers adenocarcinoma is much more common.
- Hereditary predisposition. People whose immediate family members have had bowel cancer are at risk. It especially rises if one of the parents or siblings develops cancer at the age of 45, younger and older. Such people require regular examination of the intestines with the aim 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-polypous colon cancer. Carriers of this form are susceptible to the fact that a malignant process can develop in several places of the intestine at the same time.
Symptoms of early bowel cancer
Any oncological disease for a long time is almost asymptomatic. Bowel cancer is no exception. In the first stages, when the tumor is still small, the patient may experience:
- general malaise;
- fast fatiguability;
- alternating constipation and diarrhea;
- a feeling of heaviness and bloating in the stomach;
- fever to subfebrile values without any signs of a cold;
- the 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 well, up to 3 or 4 stages.
Forecast
The percentage of survival depends on the stage of oncology. If cancer was diagnosed in the first stage, then the prognosis is favorable. 95% of patients manage to defeat the disease and continue to lead a full life.
In the second stage, when the tumor has "taken root" and increased in size, one in four dies (survival rate is 75%). This figure is still good, because most people have real chances 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 for at least another five years does not exceed 20%. The fact is that secondary malignant foci also increase and spread. Stopping this process is extremely difficult.
If the tumor metastasizes to neighboring organs, the prognosis becomes sharply negative - only 6% of patients survive.
Therefore, it is so important to timely identify the development of oncology. To begin with, a person should check blood counts. With bowel cancer, they undergo some changes.
General blood analysis
Carrying out this type of laboratory research is a standard procedure when examining a person for any disease. Indeed, according to many indicators, doctors can judge the patient’s general state of health, and if any abnormalities are found, he or she should suspect a disease. However, it often happens that a general blood test is normal, and a person nevertheless undergoes a malignant process. Especially in the first stages, no change in blood occurs. It happens that the level of hemoglobin is a little low, but not always.
Some indicators of a blood test for bowel cancer are above normal. For example, the number of leukocytes may be increased, but this symptom indicates a great many different pathologies (for example, with any inflammation, white blood cells increase).
In addition, 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, since it is simply impossible to suspect this pathology by laboratory research alone.
Blood chemistry
In addition to the general, the patient is also assigned a biochemical blood test. But in this case, as with the general blood test, in the early stages of intestinal cancer, many indicators can be normal.
An increase in urea may be observed. This often occurs with blockage of the intestinal lumen and intestinal obstruction.
What does a blood test for bowel cancer show? Often, patients with this disease significantly increase the level of CRP, a protein that indicates the course of an inflammatory process in the body. 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 in the early stages.
It can be concluded that a general and biochemical blood test for bowel cancer is far from always sufficiently informative, they often do not allow any specific conclusions to be drawn. Fortunately, there is a marker analysis in medical diagnostics. These blood counts for bowel cancer are significantly higher than normal.
Analysis of tumor markers
This is a specific laboratory study in which the patient’s blood level is checked for certain proteins formed during malignant processes in certain human organs.
So, if a patient suspects the development of intestinal cancer, he is assigned 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 is a protein compound, the level of which increases when a patient develops diseases such as cancer of the intestine, cervix (in women), breast, lung, liver and bladder. The highest level of antigen rises 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 the malignant process, these figures can increase by tens of times.
Blood test for CA 19-9
CA 19-9 antigen is a marker indicating cancer of the intestine, stomach, pancreas. In addition, its level can be increased with a benign formation in these organs.
The normal range of values is 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 carried out.
Diagnosis of bowel cancer
It consists in a set of procedures and begins with a medical examination and examination of the patient, collecting a family history.
If the patient has first-line relatives with cancer 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, methods for diagnosing intestinal cancer can be used, such as: X-ray, computed and magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, colonoscopy, as well as a biopsy.
The last method is prescribed if, during others, a neoplasm was found. In order to establish its nature and degree of malignancy, doctors take a tumor sample 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 untimely diagnosis of intestinal cancer . In particular, this concerns malignant diseases of the small and large intestines.
To avoid this, everyone should be aware of which tests to take for bowel cancer or if it is suspected. Possessing this information, you can protect yourself and loved ones from the development of the disease or from its progression.
Do not rely on the fact that with the oncology in the body, this will immediately become noticeable to the person. Symptoms in the early stages of bowel cancer are virtually nonexistent. In most cases, they are so weak that the patient feels absolutely healthy.
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 above normal, this will serve as a signal for action for further examination. If you do it on time, you can literally save your life.