Journal of hospital Pula, Vol. 8 No. 8, 2011.
Professional paper
How to use tumor markers in clinical practice Lorena Honović
Lorena Honović
; Djelatnost za laboratorijsku dijagnostiku, Opća bolnica
Abstract
Tumor markers are substances, usually proteins that are produced by the body in response to cancer growth
or by the cancer tissue itself and they may be detected in blood, urine, or tissue samples. Some tumor markers are specific
for a particular type of cancer, while others are seen in several cancer types. Most of the well-known markers may also be
elevated in non-cancerous conditions. Tumor markers provide information that can be used to: diagnose, stage, determine
prognosis, guide treatment, monitor treatment and determine recurrence. However, numerous clinical trials have shown
that the diagnostic value of tumor markers in early detection and diagnosis of disease is over valuated. In the past few years,
a The awareness of the limitations of the tumor marker analysis, in particular tumor markers for non-cancerous diseases
leading to possible value increases (false positives), is also indispensable. All of this led to the definition of guidelines for
good practice, including the design of quality control, rules for requesting, validation and interpretation of results, and the
setting up of a serum library.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
85620
URI
Publication date:
30.12.2011.
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