Cancer Treatment Today

Lay Summary: Tumor markers are occasionally useful but CEA is not well supported as an aid to monitoring or diagnosing breast cancer.   Tumor markers are measurable biochemicals that are associated with a malignancy. They are either produced by tumor cells (tumor-derived) or by the body in response to tumor cells (tumor-associated). They are typically substances that are released into the circulation and thus measured in the blood. There are a few

The literature does not contain controlled trials of TACE unresectable hepatic metastases from colon cancer. The outcomes of TACE in the available uncontrolled series appeared similar to outcomes reported of hepatic artery infusion and systemic chemotherapy. The studies do NOT reveal superiority for either TACE or alternatives with respect to complication rates or treatment-related mortality. The outcomes of TACE in the available uncontrolled series

CA-125 is an important part of the workup for suspicious adnexal masses and for for following treated ovarian cancer. It is not a common marker in clinical use for breast cancer or for screening for ovarian cancer. In one recent study, thirty-three patients had increasing or continuously high concentrations of CA 125. Thirty (91%) of these had involvement of the pleura, either as pleural metastasis or metastasis in surrounding tissue i.e. bone structures