Oncomarkers: what is it and what is the degree of need for this testing

Tumor, oncological markers, or simply oncomarkers - what it is, unfortunately, at the moment, many people on the planet already know. And, nevertheless, the disease itself and the procedures for its diagnosis, treatment are enveloped in myths born of fear and ignorance. Cancer is too big a serious problem to ignore. It is necessary that the level of education of people in this matter is increased.

Necessity of performing procedures for diagnosis of oncology

Speaking of any cancer, it should be noted that most patients, due to fear and ignorance in this matter, often miss the time and go to clinics in the last stages. While constant monitoring of your body for the presence of tumors in it is simply necessary for every person at the present time. There are many reasons for this: ecology, nutrition, lifestyle, stress, various diseases that can provoke tumor formation and growth.

At any collision with oncological clinics the term "oncomarkers" arises. What it is, for the layman is not entirely clear. Many believe that the presence of them in the body already makes a terrible diagnosis. While oncomarkers are not a diagnostic tool, and even more so - its result. Oncomarkers, the interpretation of which is purely informative, is still recommended for analysis by a multitude of oncologists.

Specificity of oncomarkers

If the explanation of this phenomenon is approximate to the scientific definition, it is protein-carbohydrate or lipid macromolecules, the presence and number of which often indicates the formation of a malignant tumor or the beginning of a relapse in a patient in a state of remission.

It should be understood that the concept of oncomarkers includes various molecules according to characteristics. The only thing that unites them is that all methods of cancer diagnosis take into account the ability of tumor markers to correlate with a tumor.

It is important that the indicators of tumor markers never indicate the precise location of the tumor, they give information about the possible presence of malignant formations in the body. In this case, the method can not give a full guarantee to patients with normal indices that there is no tumor in the body. All patients should understand the importance of diagnosing cancer in the first stages, but do not panic, having received the results. The specialists of each clinic will talk about such a method as oncomarkers, what it is and what benefit such information can give.

With all the need for such testing, oncomarkers do not give qualitative results in patients with a disease without symptoms. One has to be able to hear a doctor-diagnostician talking about the need for testing for oncomarkers, that this is a real necessity for getting a picture in patients with pronounced symptoms. Here, the correct interpretation of the indicators of cancer markers (AFP, hCG, PSA) can simply save the patient's life. Also, the informative value of tumor markers is important for the analysis of the effectiveness of various types of treatment protocols.

Summarizing all of the above, it is necessary to draw conclusions that testing for oncological markers gives the best results (if correctly decoded) in a number of cases.

• When it is necessary to determine the extent of successful removal of the entire tumor or the presence of multiple tumors, the markers are almost zero in both cases.
• Monitoring the effectiveness of therapy and the course of the disease.
• Obtaining information about the possible presence of cancer.

In order to cope with this disease, you need to know as much as possible about it, do not shy away from diagnostic tests. It is absolutely not a shame to learn from doctors about testing on oncomarkers what it is and how much it is necessary to do them in this particular case. The most important point about which each person should remember: the earlier the tumor is revealed, the more guarantees that it will be cured.