Breast cancer is a common form of cancer that affects women all across the globe. This form of cancer develops within the tissues of the breasts. Breast cancer is one type of cancer that is very well diagnosed because of the fact that the breasts are somewhat external to the body. This makes it easy to examine the breasts physically for the presence of any lumps or abnormally hard formations within the breasts. These formations are often misleading and may not be related to any medical condition. However, the presence of a lump in the breasts is considered to be reason enough to conduct further medical examination. The breasts of a woman are important for providing fresh nutritious milk to new born babies. There are also other functions associated with the breasts related to sexual response and hormone production.
Ca 27-29 is a tumor marker used to check for breast cancer. In most cases, breast cancer testing is done using a mammogram procedure. This procedure is done to create an image of the internal structures of the breasts. This image is used to detect any abnormal masses that may be present in the breasts. However, even if the lumps can be felt, they may not show up absolutely clearly in the mammogram. It is at this stage that the ca 27-29 test comes into the picture. Ca 27-29 is a tumor marker that is found in the blood of a patient suffering from breast cancer. Under normal circumstances, there should only be trace amounts of the substance in the blood. When breast cancer begins to affect the woman, the ca 27-29 levels in the blood will rise. This is a sign of breast cancer. Currently, there is insufficient evidence to link the rise of ca 27-29 to breast cancer in all the cases presented to researchers. Therefore, the test for ca 27-29 is used as one of many tests to determine if the woman has cancer or not. It is extremely rare for a patient to receive breast cancer treatment when her ca 27-29 level is elevated and there is no other sign of cancer. Therefore, while there is a relationship between ca 27-29 and breast cancer, it is not a completely dependable relationship on which one can base the treatment for cancer.
The ca 27-29 test is conducted in the same way as any blood test is conducted. This test therefore takes less than a minute to complete.