Description
Tumour markers form a small but significant part of the
laboratory repertoire. Their significance is often that they are
among the most misunderstood assays we routinely use.
Their functions include screening,diagnosis,monitoring and
prognosis assessment.However, no marker is ideal for all or
even most of these uses because there are always non-tumour specific reasons for elevations in marker levels (i.e. false positive results) and markers do not always increase in the presence of tumours (i.e. false negative results). This article deals mostly with newer tumour markers that have not yet entered common routine use and will not deal with those
markers that have been in use for many years.
