What are the different types of cancer diagnostics?
doctors have several ways to create cancer diagnosis, including display, genomics and laboratory tests. Definitive cancer diagnosis usually requires biopsy. The doctor usually sees something that leads him to suspect cancer and requires further tests. Suspect symptoms that may indicate cancer or symptoms that they notice during a routine screening test or physical examination, as well as patient health complaints can all lead to further testing.
Biopsy is the most common type of cancer diagnostics test. Biopsy is usually slightly invasive procedures where the doctor removes a small piece of tissue and sends it to the laboratory. The pathologist in the laboratory examines the tissues under the microscope to determine whether the cells are cancerous.
Laboratory tests are used by a physician once a definitive diagnosis of cancer is made. Laboratory technician explores the blood or urine of the patient to determine a certain feature, for example at what stage the cancer is. These tests are essential, because they help doctors to determine the best way to continue treatment.
Some examples of laboratory tests include CBC, blood protein tests, urine cytology and tumor markers. Test CBC or complete blood count measures a number of different blood cells in the body and is used to diagnose blood cancer. Blood protein tests find abnormalities in the immune system proteins and are used to diagnose multiple myeloma. Urine cytology detects cancer cells in the urine, indicating the presence of cancer in the bladder, kidneys or ureters. Tumor marker tests are looking for chemicals produced by tumors and include a PSA test for prostate cancer diagnostics, HCG to detect ovarian cancer and testicular detection, and alpha-fetoprotein test for liver cancer detection.
Imaging tests can also be used for some types of cancerdiagnostics. Depending on the body area, X -ray's X -rayscanning, scanning computed tomography (CT), ultrasound, scanning positron emissions (PET) or scanning magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). All these imaging tests provide images of what is happening inside the body. Mamograms are a common form of cancer diagnostics that also use imaging scanning.
Sometimes doctors are looking for changes in certain genes that are associated with cancer development. They can perform genomic tests such as fluorescent in situ hybridization or fish, tests or polymerase chain reaction or PCR, tests. Doctors can test fish when they perform breast biopsy. The fish test shows whether the patient has additional copies of the HER2 gene, which would indicate the genetic component of breast cancer. PCR tests show a promise as a timely detection method for lung cancer.