Comprehensive Male Cancer Screening

Getting the right screening test at the right time is one of the most important things a man can do for his health. Screenings find diseases early, before you have symptoms, when they're easier to treat. It’s also important to follow recommendations for cancer screening tests. They help detect cancer while it’s small and much before it has spread. So, do not wait to get a screening test for the most common cancers that affect men.

A blood based cancer screening profile, usually known as tumor marker profile, helps to detect any cancerous activity happening in the body. Tumor markers are substances made by cancer cells or by normal cells in response to cancer in the body. Our tumor marker profile consists of 6 tests that have been carefully selected to detect the most common cancers seen in men.

Alpha Feto Protein (AFP), is a protein normally made by the liver and yolk sac of a developing baby. AFP levels go down soon after birth. It is not normally found in healthy adults. It is a tumor marker which is raised mainly in liver cancer, cancer of the testicles, as well as some noncancerous liver diseases such as cirrhosis and hepatitis.

Cancer antigen 19.9 (CA 19.9) is a protein that exists on the surface of certain cancer cells. CA 19.9 is shed by the tumor cells and can be detected by laboratory tests in blood and sometimes other body fluids. It is an indicator for pancreatic cancer. It may also be elevated in many types of gastrointestinal cancer, such as colorectal cancer, esophageal cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, it may be raised in other non-cancerous conditions like Gallstones, Biliary infection (cholangitis), Blockage of the bile duct (jaundice), Pancreatitis (swelling of the pancreas), Cystic fibrosis, Certain Liver diseases.

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA), is a protein produced by normal, as well as malignant, cells of the prostate gland. PSA may exist in two forms: It may be bound to another protein or float freely. Our panel measures both, total PSA and Free PSA to understand the level of PSA in the blood. The tests are slightly different. A total PSA test measures all the PSA, including the antigens that are bound and those that are floating freely. A free PSA test only measures the amount of PSA that is unbound and is floating freely in the bloodstream. Both tests are used to diagnose prostate issues. 

Free PSA tests are often used alongside other PSA tests to confirm a diagnosis or test results. A person may have an increased risk of prostate cancer when they have higher levels of total PSA and lower levels of free PSA. Elevated PSA levels may indicate prostate cancer or benign prostate conditions like prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) (enlargement of the prostate). Other factors that can affect PSA levels include medications, bumping the prostate during activities like riding a bicycle, motorcycle, or horse, physical rectal examination by a doctor, ejaculation, urinary tract infections, anal sex, inflammation in the prostate or prostate surgery.

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a protein present in the gastrointestinal tract during fetal life. Babies in the womb have high levels of it. After birth, levels drop way down. The level of CEA in the bloodstream is thus relatively low unless certain diseases including certain forms of cancer are present. Thus, the CEA test is most often used as a “marker” to understand your cancer.

The CEA test is used especially for cancers of the large intestine and rectum. However, increased levels of CEA may be found in colorectal or colon cancer, medullary thyroid carcinoma, breast cancer, cancer of the gastrointestinal tract, liver cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer. Benign conditions which can elevate CEA include smoking, infections, inflammatory bowel disease, pancreatitis, cirrhosis of the liver, and some benign tumors of intestines, rectum, lungs, thyroid, liver, pancreas and prostate.

Chemotherapy and radiation therapy can cause a temporary rise in CEA due to the death of tumor cells and release of CEA into the blood stream. Experts believe that because there is variability between results obtained between laboratories, the same laboratory should do repeat testing when monitoring a patient with cancer.

Beta HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin): Beta hCG is a test more commonly known as the pregnancy test. It helps by detecting the hormone produced by the cells of the placenta during pregnancy in a female.

So the question arises, Can a Pregnancy Test Detect Testicular Cancer?

The answer is Yes. According to the American Cancer Society, the hormone, HCG, is produced by a male’s testes at low levels throughout his life. However, high levels of hCG  is released in some kinds of tumors, including testicular cancers in men. When the presence of ?-HCG is detected in serum it always indicates a malignancy. For this reason, hCG testing in the blood is an essential component of testicular cancer diagnosis and is coupled with other diagnostic tests. Researchers suggest that every man should use the pregnancy test to screen for testicular cancer especially men between ages 15 to 40 years.