How Cancer is Diagnosed ?

    There are many different ways to diagnose cancer and more new diagnostic tools are developed and existing methods improved. No matter who makes the diagnosis, there is no single definitive test that can confirm a diagnosis of cancer, a second opinion by a cancer expert is strongly recommended. Some types of cancer, such as lymphomas, can be hard to classify, even for an expert. Knowing a patient's exact type of cancer allows oncologists or doctors to choose the most effective treatment.

    The type of cancer and the affected parts of the body will guide doctor's decisions about which tests to order for you. they will take your medical history, perform a physical exam, and possibly order blood tests, imaging tests, or a biopsy. And some types of cancer, like breast cancer and colon cancer, are often detected by routine screening tests. The most common diagnostic methods include:

Self-Checks

    Early detection significantly increases the likelihood of cancer being treated successfully. Patient can take is performing regular self-checks at home. Cancers that may be detected with self-checks such as:
1) Breast cancer, you should regularly examine your breasts for any changes in shape and texture.
2) Skin cancer, changes on the surface of your skin as new or changing moles, spots, or lumps, can be signs of cancer.
3) Testicular cancer, regular checks of the testicles can pick up on changes in shape, size, or texture.
4) Oral check, the oral health encompasses a wide range of conditions may from cavities to oral cancer.
    It’s good to be aware of how your body usually looks and feels. These can appear anywhere from your head to your toes. Spotting cancer at an early stage can save lives.

Biopsy

    A small tissue sample is surgically removed and examined under a microscope for the presence of cancer cells. Depending on tumor location, some biopsies can be done on an outpatient basis with only local anesthesia. There are different various types of biopsy used to make a cancer diagnosis:

    A needle biopsy is often used on suspicious areas that your health care provider can feel through your skin, such as breast lumps and enlarged lymph nodes. When combined with an imaging procedure, needle biopsy can be used to collect cells from an area that can't be felt through the skin.

●Endoscopic biopsy
    During endoscopy, your doctor uses a thin, flexible tube (endoscope) with a light on the end to see structures inside your body. Special tools are passed through the tube to take a small sample of tissue to be analyzed. What type of endoscopic biopsy you undergo depends on where the suspicious area is located. The endoscope can be inserted through your mouth, rectum, urinary tract or a small incision in your skin.

    A skin biopsy removes cells from the surface of your body. A skin biopsy is used most often to diagnose skin conditions, including melanoma and other cancers. The type of skin biopsy you undergo will depend on the type of cancer suspected and the extent of the suspicious cells.

    Bone marrow is the spongy material inside some of your larger bones where blood cells are made. Analyzing a sample of bone marrow may reveal what's causing your blood problem. A bone marrow biopsy is commonly used to diagnose a variety of blood problems, both cancerous and not cancerous. A bone marrow biopsy can diagnose blood cancers, such as leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma. It can also detect cancers that started elsewhere and traveled to the bone marrow.

    Your doctor may recommend a surgical biopsy if the cells in question can't be accessed with other biopsy procedures or if other biopsy results have been inconclusive. A surgeon makes an incision in your skin to access the suspicious area of cells. Examples of surgical biopsy procedures include surgery to remove a breast lump for a possible breast cancer diagnosis and surgery to remove a lymph node for a possible lymphoma diagnosis.

    The biopsy results help your doctor determine whether the cells are cancerous. If the cells are cancerous, the results can tell your doctor where the cancer originated — the type of cancer. A biopsy also helps your doctor determine how aggressive your cancer is — the cancer's grade. The grade is sometimes expressed as a number on a scale of 1 to 4 and is determined by how cancer cells look under the microscope.

Endoscopy

    An endoscopy is a procedure in which your doctor uses specialized instruments to view and operate on the internal organs and vessels of body. It allows surgeons to see problems within body without making large incisions. A doctor inserts an endoscope through a small cut or an opening in the body such as the mouth. An endoscope is a flexible tube with an attached camera that allows your doctor to see. Your doctor can use forceps and scissors on the endoscope to operate or remove tissue for biopsy.

    Endoscopy allows your doctor to visually examine an organ without having to make a large incision. A screen in the operating room lets the doctor see exactly what the endoscope sees. Endoscopy is typically used for Esophagus,Stomach, Colon, Ears, Nose, Throat, Heart, Urinary tract, Joints, and Abdomen. Your doctor may recommend an endoscopy for some various reasons are to screen for and prevent cancer, to diagnose a disease or find out the cause of symptoms and to give treatment.

Diagnostic Imaging

    Diagnostic health imaging technology has transformed healthcare and now allows for earlier diagnosis of medical conditions, reduces the need for needless invasive exploratory processes and creates better patient outcomes.

    Diagnostic imaging allows physicians to view the inside of your body to help them find any indications of a health condition. Some machines and methods can produce pictures of the activities and structures inside your body. Your doctor will decide which medical imaging tests they’ll need to use based on the body part they’re evaluating and your symptoms. Diagnostic health images offer a fullarray of diagnostic imaging services, including the following:

    It takes less time to perform the test using and the images are detailed, high-resolution, and enabling the radiologist to determine whether you have a benign or more severe medical condition. It can use to examine things like Spinal cord and brain anomalies, Cysts, tumors and other bodily irregularities, Joint abnormalities and injuries, Breast tissue to screen for cancer, Endometriosis, Uterine anomalies, Abdominal or Liver disease

    MRA stands for magnetic resonance angiogram, a test that provides very detailed images of the blood vessels in the body. MRA scans are a form of MRIs. Using radio wave energy pulses and a magnetic field, the MRA provides information that CT scans, ultrasounds or x-rays can’t always obtain. MRA tests are typically used on the legs, neck, brain and kidneys to collect information about the condition of blood flow and blood vessel walls.

    The test combines a string of X-ray scans or images taken from various angles. Computer software then generates cross-sectional images (slices) of blood vessels and soft tissues inside the body. CT scans can offer a more thorough picture than standard X-rays. They’re frequently used to quickly examine individuals who have internal injuries from a trauma. Doctors can use CT scans to evaluate the spine, brain, abdomen, neck and chest. They provide clear images of both hard and soft tissues. The pictures the CT scans produce allow doctors to quickly make medical decisions if required.

    Ultrasound imaging is a safe imaging method that creates images of the inside of the body. It doesn’t use radiation, but rather high-frequency waves. As a result, it’s a safe procedure during pregnancy. The ultrasound images are in real-time and show the structure and movement of internal organs and the blood flow through vessels.
    During an ultrasound, a sonographer will hold a transducer — a handheld device — over your skin. Sometimes it’s placed internally. It uses sound waves traveling through soft tissue and fluids, and as it hits denser surfaces, it echoes or bounces back, which is how the images are created. Some common body parts physicians use ultrasounds for include heart, joints, uterus, blood vessels, muscles, bladder, kidneys.

    X-rays are among the most commonly used and well-known diagnostic imaging tests. Doctors use them to view the inside of the body. X-ray equipment generates a high-energy beam that dense tissue and bones can’t absorb, but that passes through other areas of the body. This process generates an image, allowing your doctor to see if you suffered an injury to your bones.

    Mammograms are a type of x-ray image of the breasts. They check for early breast cancer signs like small lumps you or your doctor can’t feel through the use of a low-dose x-ray. Mammograms also show breast tissue changes that could be a sign of early-stage breast cancer. Having mammograms regularly comes with various benefits, including.
1) Detect breast cancer early on, which saves lives.
2) Reduce your risk of dying because of breast cancer by 30 percent.
3) Getting treatment early means you can keep your breasts and don’t have to resort to mastectomy.

    A bone density scan is an indirect test that physicians use to determine whether or not you have osteoporosis. and it measures the amount of bone material you have per square centimeter in your bones. Osteoporosis is a condition that makes the bones fragile and susceptible to fractures. A bone density scan uses x-ray equipment to measure the bone minerals and calcium packed into a small bone segment. Typically, you’ll have this scan conducted on your hip, spine or forearm. Your bones are denser if you have higher bone mineral content, meaning they’re less likely to break.

    When your joints are not functioning as they should be, it stops your movement ability and makes daily tasks harder. An arthrogram is one of the various types of medical imaging used for diagnosing joint problems that other types of imaging might not be able to detect. Also referred to as “arthrography,” arthrograms consist of various images taken using x-ray, fluoroscopy, CT scans or an MRI specifically of the joints.
    The radiologist will inject your joint with a contrast dye such as iodine before your arthrogram. They’ll use a fluoroscope to guide the injection placement into your joint. This dye will coat your joint structure linings, making them look white on the images and highlighting any problems so that the doctor can evaluate the function of the joint and come up with a diagnosis

    When the doctor needs specific imaging of the spinal canal, like the spinal tissue, spinal cord and surrounding nerves, they’ll order a myelogram. A myelogram is an exam during which the technologist injects contrast dye into the spinal cord space while using fluoroscopy to take moving x-ray images. As this dye flows through the spaces, the doctor will examine the area for any abnormalities, including tumors, infection and inflammation.
    A CT scan typically follows a myelogram procedure to help better define any possible issues. Combined with CT technology, myelograms can give your doctor more detailed information than they would get with x-rays alone.

Blood Tests

    Blood tests measure the levels of substances in your body, such as red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs), and markers of inflammation. Samples collected for cancer blood tests are analyzed in a lab for signs of cancer. The samples may show cancer cells, proteins or other substances made by the cancer. The blood tests used to diagnose cancer include:


1) Complete blood count (CBC):
    The common blood test measures a amount of various types of blood cells in a sample of your blood. Blood cancers may be detected using this test if too many or too few of a type of blood cell or abnormal cells are found. A bone marrow biopsy may help confirm a diagnosis of a blood cancer.



2) Blood protein testing:
    A test (electrophoresis) to examine various proteins in your blood can aid in detecting certain abnormal immune system proteins (immunoglobulins) that are sometimes elevated in people with multiple myeloma. Other tests, such as a bone marrow biopsy, are used to confirm a suspected diagnosis.



3) Tumor marker tests:
    Tumor markers are chemicals made by tumor cells that can be detected in your blood. Examples of tumor markers include prostate-specific antigen (PSA) for prostate cancer, cancer antigen 125 (CA 125) for ovarian cancer, calcitonin for medullary thyroid cancer, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) for liver cancer and human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) for germ cell tumors, such as testicular cancer and ovarian cancer.

4) Circulating tumor cell tests:
    Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cells that break off from a cancer tumor and move into the blood stream. Doctors sometimes test for CTCs to see if breast cancer cells are active in areas of the body besides the breast. Recently developed blood tests are being used to detect cells that have broken away from an original cancer site and are floating in the bloodstream. One circulating tumor cell test has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to monitor people with breast, colorectal or prostate cancer.

Galleri multi-cancer blood test

Clinical lab test

Cytology Tests

Tumor markers

Screen Tests

AI in Cancer Diagnostics