Why would my blood test go through the Oncology Department?

Why would my blood test go through the Oncology Department?
I recently got a blood test, and they said it would need to go through the oncology department.
My mum said that this is standard procedure for blood tests, is it?

- Soleil
Testing for cancer via blood tests is becoming more and more routine. Do not worry your doctor is accurate and a good one! You would not have been notified the oncology department testing had it been serious, doctors don't purposely try to scare patients. Relax your fine.

"There is now a blood test that will accurately detect early cancer of all types. It has an accuracy of greater than 95%. If the test is repeated, the accuracy is greater than 99%. That is to say, that false positive and false negative rates are less than 1%. The test is called AMAS. "

Blood tests can be helpful to diagnose some leukemias.

A new cancer blood test may help doctors find cancers earlier and monitor cancer treatment.
The new blood test uses microchip technology to sift blood to search for circulating tumor cells (CTCs), which come from solid tumors and roam through the blood.
The developers of the test call it a "new and effective tool" that has "broad implications" for cancer research, detection, diagnosis, and management.

"Doctors found that if they looked at 15 particular genes, they were able to distinguish the people who might have lung cancer from those who didn't with about 87-per-cent accuracy.

While a biopsy would be required to make a conclusive diagnosis, Ellis said the new test could help make early distinctions between "people who clearly don't have cancer and people who are very likely to have cancer."

"Arber says that, "85 percent of those who develop colon cancer have no symptoms or family history. Generally speaking, it's much harder to get these people to comply with taking the test." He further says that, "If we can identify those who are prone to cancer through a less invasive test, we can convince them to do the colonoscopy."

Doctors
with the aid of Arber's new test, as part of a routine blood test, can screen patients for colon cancer very quickly. The American Cancer Society recommends people aging more than 50 to undergo routine colonoscopy. "

"This is a test that measures the amount of thyroglobulin in your blood. If you have had your whole thyroid removed (total thyroidectomy), you should have little or no Tg in your blood, since thyroid cells are the only cells that make Tg. If your Tg level is higher than expected, it means that thyroid or thyroid cancer cells may exist somewhere in your body."


Examples of blood and urine tests used to diagnose cancer include:

* Complete blood count (CBC). This common blood test measures the amount of various types of blood cells in a sample of your blood. Blood cancers may be detected using this test if too many or too few of a type of blood cell or abnormal cells are found. A bone marrow biopsy may help confirm a diagnosis of a blood cancer.
* Urine cytology. Examining a urine sample under a microscope may reveal cancer cells that could come from the bladder, ureters or kidneys.
* Blood protein testing. A test to examine various proteins in your blood (electrophoresis) can aid in detecting certain abnormal immune system proteins (immunoglobulins) that are sometimes elevated in people with multiple myeloma. Other tests, such as a bone marrow biopsy, are used to confirm a suspected diagnosis.
*

Tumor marker tests. Tumor markers are chemicals made by tumor cells that can be detected in your blood. But tumor makers are also produced by some normal cells in your body and levels may be significantly elevated in noncancerous conditions. This limits the potential for tumor marker tests to help in diagnosing cancer.

The best ways to use tumor markers in diagnosing cancer hasn't been determined. And the use of some tumor marker tests is controversial. Examples of tumor markers include prostate-specific antigen (PSA) for prostate cancer, cancer antigen 125 (CA 125) for ovarian cancer, calcitonin for medullary thyroid cancer, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) for liver cancer and human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) for germ cell tumors, such as testicular cancer and ovarian cancer.

- Ben Mcleod
Probably not, could be checking for lukaemia, hope you don't bruise easily

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments! Leukemia Problems Remedies | FIGHT CANCER INFO
Leukemia — Comprehensive overview covers symptoms, causes, risk factors, treatment of this blood-related cancer.

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