Cancer check-up

Hello to all,

I would like to ask on behalf of my brother. He is 35 and recently quit smoking, although he has been quite a smoker for at least 15 years. He was doing routine check up and doctor ordered CYFRA 21-1 blood test.

The test value turned up 12.4, while the normal reference is  3.3<.

Can anyone advise if this is indicative of lung cancer or could this increase be due to the fact that he just quit smoking. He does not seem to have any particular symptoms, but the doctor is concerned and so are we as a family.

Can some comment on the significance of this test and please advise as to additional tests that can be performed to check for potential lung cancer.

Thank you in advance.

[Dr Santos]

Hi,
How are you? While CYFRA 21-1 is used in screening, diagnosis, and monitoring of lung cancer, it may also be affected by other medical conditions. It can  be elevated in benign respiratory disease,
as well as in urological, gastrointestinal, and gynecological
cancers. It is best that you discuss the results with his attending physician for proper evaluation. The symptoms present, his medical history and results of other diagnostic tests are also important considerations. Take care and do keep us posted. (ref:http://www.aacc.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/NACB/LMPG/tumor/chp3p_lung.pdf)

[me2kib]

Thank you very much for your feedback. That is exactly what we did. We made an MRI of lungs, extensive blood tests, and everything appears clear. The MRI doctor said that there is no need for panic considering the man in question was a chronic heavy smoker for 15+ years. The MRI looks clear and no particular symptoms were present. So it looks like something else is affecting the test result.

Thank you very for your input. It is pretty nerve wrecking to get a result like that for one of your family members.