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An international Private Clinic using innovative,
holistic methods and natural medicine
for the treatment of cancer.
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| Tumor Markers - chapter 5 |
Unfortunately, tumor markers cannot be used to screen a whole
population for cancer. Many primary tumors have normal tumor
markers, so let ’s take an example using the tumor marker PSA
for prostate cancer:
Normally the tumor marker PSA must be less than 4. To put it in
other words – if you have a PSA less than 4, you don’t have
prostate cancer.
This is incorrect! You can have prostate cancer with a PSA of
0.5. There are no safe PSA values. If you feel a prostate tumor
with a rectal exploration you can’t count on the PSA being
normal. This was firmly stated at the prostate cancer symposium
in San Francisco, February 2006.
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However, metastases often produce increased tumor markers
even though the primary tumor has a normal marker. The useful thing about finding an increased marker in a patient is that, in
the future, we can use it as a baseline marker with this patient.
If a patient’s tumor marker has increased and then declines to
the normal count during the treatment, it is a measurement of
the cancer disappearing or in remission. Our experience tells us
that the cancer stops growing as soon as the tumor marker
starts to fall, even though it hasn’t returned to normal level.
You also have to pay attention to the fact that a specific tumor
marker will only be produced by a specific cancer in a high
percentage of cancer patients. Never 100%.
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Humlegaarden | Humlebæk Strandvej 11 | 3050 Humlebæk | Denmark | Tel.: (+45) 49 13 24 65 | Fax: (+45) 49 13 44 98
E-mail: info@humlegaarden.com |
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