Can cancers be picked up in blood tests?

[Peggysl]

Hi All

Can specific things like cancers be picked up in routine blood tests, or do they only do blood tests if you already have a diagnosis?

Pegs X

[CJH86]

Not really. Depends on the type of cancer though. Standard blood tests like full blood count can pick up cell count anomolies that are present in some cancers like leukaemias and myelomas but dont confirm the disease.

Blood tests dones specificallyfor Inflammatory mediators such as ESR or C-reactive protiens can pick up 'inflammation' in the body but this is non-specific and necessarily cancer i.e. could be an infection or autoimmune related. Sometimes there can be abnormalities in certain electrolytes such as sodium, potassium etc...but that could also be 100 other things.

[countrygirl]

Just to expand on above post - abnormal blood test results should make your dr do more tests to find out the reason. For example my mother had been treated for breast cancer 8 yrs previously when a routine liver function test showed a problem - another routine blood test showed she had very high levels of calcium in her blood. These two tests alerted the Dr to do more tests which ultimately showed her to have secondary cancer in her bile duct and bones BUT they could also have been innocent reasons for these irregular results so thats why Drs don't say much until they have all the results.
If a full blood count shows you are very aneamic then the Dr will want to know why and not just treat the aneamia etc etc.
My gp says having normal routine blood tests is a good general mot that should put your mind at rest I believe her for about a week!

[Peggysl]

Thank you both for very helpful information.

Would I be correct in thinking that if abnormalities were spotted, the Docs would more than likely follow up with more specific blood tests?

Pegs X

[worriedem]

my gp gave me a full set of blood tests a month or so ago including one apparently specific for bowel cancer as she said this should reassure me and put my mind at rest... well it came back normal but i have since made the massive mistake of googling and found stories of people with stage 3/5 cancer who had a normal result!!

[jojo2316]

Hi Pegs -
I guess it might be true that if abnormalities were spotted they would follow them up with other tests - or they might just be more routine checks for other things. What worries me though is why your docs aren't being clearer about what they are doing and why......... it's not very good bedside mannor I think!!
I hope you are doing OK....
xx