CANCER ANTIGEN – CA 72-4:
Why Cancer Antigen (CA 72- 4) Test?
CLINICAL INFORMATION
CA 72-4 was identified as a 1MDa – mucin-like glycoprotein complex termed TAG-72 (Tumor-Associated Antigen -72 of molecular weight 48kDa). CA 72-4 levels in serum and plasma have been reported in various malignant diseases including carcinomas of pancreas, stomach, gall bladder, colon, mammary glands, ovaries, cervix, and endometrium, but the highest diagnostic sensitivity of Cancer Antigen CA 72-4 is found in increasing quantities in the gut and gynecological cancers. Consistently higher levels signify chronic or recurrent disease. It is a good correlation between CA 72-4 levels with comparison to tumor size and its stage in gastrointestinal cancer patients. In certain conditions such as ovarian cysts and non-cancerous conditions such as rheumatic diseases as well, shows elevated levels of this tumor marker CA 72-4, but on the contrary (once confirmed after screening and detection) the significance of this specific test becomes a marker of choice for staging, therapeutic monitoring and follow-up care in the gut and gynecological cancers. As a matter of fact, no screening process is 100% reliable as there is always a chance of a false-positive result (shows the positive test result in absence of a disease), or a false negative result (test result shows negative in presence of a disease), hence other supporting second markers are CA 19-9 and CEA is performed to detect and confirm bowel cancers. The confirmation of tests combining both CA 72-4 with CA 12-5 tests are screened for early detection of ovarian cancer.
General Instructions:
Sample Requirement: Specimen - Blood sample collected from the vein. Test Preparation: None.
NOTE - Sample for specimen collections may vary based on the patient’s condition/cases according to the patient’s presenting complaints/signs or symptoms:
SPECIMEN REQUIREMENT (Special or Rare Cases) - As instructed and guided by Physician / Clinician / Pathologist / as per Laboratory’s requirements, according to procedures and protocols.
Sample Requirement: Blood Sample taken from the vein
Test Preparation: None
This Multi-Specialty Clinical Referral Laboratory RT DIAGNOSTICS provides precise and accurate tests with an extensive range of testing services to the medical centers to help in the diagnosis and identification of pathology in the test specimens for infectious diseases and also to evaluate the function of organ systems of the patient. It prevents further complications and helps to stabilize and restore health to near normalcy at the earliest without delay.
