Does bloodwork/labs show metastasis?

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mkinoly
mkinoly Member Posts: 86
edited August 2016 in Not Diagnosed With a Recurrence or Metastases but Concerned

I'm wondering if a person has mets will some lab values be abnormal? I know if liver mets are bad the LFTs will likely be off, but what if the mets are small? Can the lab value still be normal? The same with calcium--can it be normal but still have bone mets?

All my bloodwork was normal even when I had my original tumor, so I'm wondering if having labs done is even very useful if mets can be there but go undetected?

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  • cive
    cive Member Posts: 709
    edited August 2016

    There are some blood tests that may in many people detect abnormal cell activity that may be associated with mets.

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  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited August 2016

    in many cases, blood work does not show mets when they're small

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  • hanley50
    hanley50 Member Posts: 146
    edited August 2016

    mkinoly - I've wondered this myself.

    My ONC is ordering the exact same blood work (that all came back normal a month before my DX) as follow up. I wonder what the point is? If my blood work was fine then and they didn't know I had cancer, how can they follow up with the same tests? IDK?

    Maryann

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