I know if you have a lot of red cells and not enough white you have cancer. I know that spots seen on organs can tell if you have cancer. Can cancer affect your blood and make it visible that way?I'm sure this is a stupid question.
Thanks in advance! (:
ckngbbbls - I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteMy late husband had hepatitis C and ended up at Mayo Clinic for a liver transplant. At that time, (1995-1996) Mickey Mantle the baseball player had a liver transplant but had liver cancer and died soon after. In essence he wasted a liver...liver transplant folks at Mayo's words, not mine.
After that if a liver transplant patient had liver cancer, they were NOT a candidate for liver transplant because that kind of cancer spreads rapidly.
Several days after my husbands transplant, his team of doctor came to see him and told him that in a routine autopsy of his diseased liver, they found a cancerous tumor. That cancer was not found in all the blood work, liver biopsies, xrays and ultrasounds that were performed on my husband prior to the transplant. If it would have been found, he would not have gotten a new liver and would not have lived another 10 years.
So....unless things have changes, I don't think all cancers show up on blood tests.
formerly_bob - No - in fact, few cancers can be found through blood work. Genearlly only blood cell cancers, some bone cancers, and lymph cancers show up directly in blood work. With most cancers, abnormal blood results merely inform the docs about potential problems that are diagnosed through further testing.
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