AFP

General Information:

The term tumour markers - includes substances that point to the presence of some type of a tumour.
All tumour markers now measured report a tumour if they exceed certain threshold levels, ie all tumour markers enter body fluids and non-cancerous conditions (at lower concentrations).
The AFP indicator shows a result in the following cases:

• primary liver carcinoma
• tumours originating from testes (non-seminoma)
• in 15% of gastrointestinal tumours, mostly gastric

The AFP concentrations during normal pregnancy are high, even higher in multiple pregnancies. Marker screening is used for neural tube defect screening and in combination with other indicators for detecting Down's syndrome.
AFP is very high in newborns as it drops during the first few months of life.

 Non-specific elevated tag values may occur in:

• acute or chronic liver disease (hepatitis, hepatic cirrhosis, toxic injury, etc.);
• hereditary tyrosinemia and telangiectasia ataxia;
• slight elevations may occur in kidney failure;

Tumour markers are in most cases suitable for a follow-up after a surgical intervention or other therapies (in case of a total tumour removal, and in the absence of metastases, tumour marker values are reduced to normal, any new increase in tumour value is indicative for recurrence. These markers are not suitable for early diagnosis of tumour formations.

Sample Required:

Venous blood in the morning in fasting

Keywords:

AFP