A bone profile blood test evaluates the proteins, minerals and enzymes present in your bones. These nutrients provide complete support for healthy bone structure and development.
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What can a bone profile blood test do?
A bone profile of blood tests can help to know how well the metabolic processes of the body are affecting your skeleton. When we tend to grow old, the strength of our bones may be weakened by different conditions such as osteoporosis.
The bone is made up of collagen, a protein that provides bone its strength and framework, and calcium phosphate, a mineralised complex that may harden the bone. Bone markers which are the signs of bone turnover process can be used with bone density testing to detect the presence of bone diseases such as osteoporosis or other issues with the bones.
What is there in a bone profile test?
Your blood sample needs to be tested for:
- Phosphate
- Albumin
- Calcium
- Alkaline phosphatase
How can laboratory tests help to diagnose cancer?
Cancer blood tests and other laboratory tests may help the doctor to detect for cancer diagnosis. Try to decrease the anxiety by knowing in details about cancer blood tests and how they are being used.
If you are having cancer, then the doctor might ask to perform certain cancer blood tests or other laboratory tests, such as biopsy of the suspicious area or thorough analysis of your urine in order to guide through the diagnosis.
By excluding blood cancers, blood tests usually cannot tell if you are suffering from cancer or other non-cancerous condition. However they may provide the doctor some clues about what is going on within your body.
Since your doctor has ordered cancer blood tests to detect for the signs of cancer, it does not mean in anyway that a cancer diagnosis is made and you are having cancer. You need to know what the doctor might be looking for when conducting cancer blood tests.
What is your doctor looking for?
The blood samples being collected for cancer blood tests are evaluated in the laboratory to detect for signs of cancer. These samples indicate proteins, cancer cells or other substances prepared by cancer. Private blood tests in London may give the doctor some idea of how well your organs are functioning and if they are affected by cancer.
Examples of blood tests used for diagnosing cancer are the following:
- Complete blood count (CBC) – This is a common blood test that calculates the amount of different blood cells present in your blood sample. Blood cancers can be detected through this test when very few or too many of a kind of blood cell or abnormal cells are usually found. A bone marrow biopsy can confirm the diagnosis of your blood cancer.
- Blood protein tests – This is a test called electrophoresis that can check for different proteins present in your blood and help to detect abnormal immune system proteins or immunoglobulins elevated in people with several myeloma. Other tests like a bone marrow biopsy can be used to confirm a suspected diagnosis.
- Tumor marker tests – Tumor markers are chemicals made by the tumor cells that may be detected within your blood. However, tumor markers are produced due to normal cells present in the body and the levels can be significantly elevated in non-cancerous conditions. This restricts the probability for tumor marker tests to diagnose cancer. Some examples of tumor markers are – cancer antigen 125 (CA 125) for ovarian cancer, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) for prostate cancer, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) for liver cancer, calcitonin for medullary thyroid cancer and human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) for germ cell tumors like ovarian cancer and testicular cancer.
- Circulating tumor cell tests – Some recent private blood tests in UK are used to identify cells that are broken away from cancer site and floating into the bloodstream. One circulating tumor cell test is being approved by the Food and Drug Administration to observe people who are having colorectal, breast or prostate cancer. But the test is not commonly used in the clinical setting.
What does the test results mean?
The results of the test results should be read carefully due to different factors that may influence its outcomes such as what you eat or variations in your body or.
Besides, non-cancerous conditions may sometimes lead to abnormal test results. For other cases, cancer might be there even though the blood test results turn out to be normal.
Your doctor will be assessing the test results to know if your levels are within the normal range. Otherwise, the doctor might compare the results with those from your past tests.
What can happen next?
Though the blood and urine tests may give some clues to the doctor, other tests are also needed for the diagnosis. For most forms of cancer, a biopsy is said to be a method that can obtain a sample of suspicious cells for testing which is necessary for the definitive diagnosis.
In certain cases, tumor marker levels have been evaluated in due course. Your doctor will schedule follow-up testing within a few months. Tumor markers are usually helpful after diagnosing your cancer. Your doctor will be using these tests to know if your cancer is responding properly to the treatment or the cancer is growing ahead.
In most cases, after you are done with cancer treatment, cancer blood tests will not be helpful for the return of cancer. You will have to discuss about the specifics of cancer with your doctor to know in details about it.
These days, common search strings like, “private blood test near me” will help you to look for a reputed clinic in your area and then conduct necessary blood tests on time.
