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Substances released into the blood by some cancers that can be measured with a simple test, useful for tracking whether treatment is working or the cancer is coming back, but rarely good enough to diagnose or screen.
CEA is followed after colorectal cancer surgery and in monitoring metastatic disease. LDH is prognostic in melanoma, lymphoma (part of the IPI) and germ cell tumours; AFP and hCG diagnose and stage testicular cancer; chromogranin A and 5-HIAA track neuroendocrine tumours; thyroglobulin monitors differentiated thyroid cancer after thyroidectomy and calcitonin monitors medullary thyroid cancer; PSA, CA-125 and CA 19-9 have their own entries. Markers rise in benign conditions too, so they are interpreted as trends alongside imaging; ctDNA is increasingly the more specific alternative.
Fixes the window in which a blood test could plausibly work and shows why CA 19-9 alone is not enough: half of early cases are missed even at diagnosis, and Lewis-negative patients are missed entirely.
The reason a normal CA 19-9 never rules pancreatic cancer out, why Lewis-negative patients need a different marker (CA 125, CEA or CA 19-9-independent panels), and a constraint on every blood-based detection idea on this page.
Shares Germ cell neoplasia in situ (GCNIS), Yolk sac tumour of the testis, postpubertal type, Embryonal carcinoma of the testis, Retroperitoneal germ cell tumour.
Shares Yolk sac tumour of the testis, postpubertal type, Embryonal carcinoma of the testis, Retroperitoneal germ cell tumour, AFP, hCG and LDH in germ cell tumours (IGCCCG risk groups).
Shares Spermatocytic tumour of the testis, Germ cell neoplasia in situ (GCNIS), Embryonal carcinoma of the testis, Retroperitoneal germ cell tumour.
Shares AFP, hCG and LDH in germ cell tumours (IGCCCG risk groups), Thyroglobulin, calcitonin and CEA in thyroid cancer follow-up, CEA surveillance after colorectal cancer surgery, Serum tumour markers: proper use and misuse.
Shares Choriocarcinoma of the testis, AFP, hCG and LDH in germ cell tumours (IGCCCG risk groups), Placental-site trophoblastic tumour and epithelioid trophoblastic tumour, Low-risk gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (FIGO score 0 to 6).
Shares Spermatocytic tumour of the testis, Germ cell neoplasia in situ (GCNIS), Yolk sac tumour of the testis, postpubertal type, Embryonal carcinoma of the testis.
Shares Yolk sac tumour of the testis, postpubertal type, Embryonal carcinoma of the testis, Retroperitoneal germ cell tumour, Choriocarcinoma of the testis.
Shares Choriocarcinoma of the testis, Mediastinal germ cell tumour, Extragonadal germ cell tumour.