Which blood levels are more tied to colon cancer

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Please see my questions below:

When it comes to WBC and SED rate, I understand levels will be higher in the case of colon cancer:

1) If someone has symptoms, does the extent of how high make the possibility stronger to have colon cancer (i.e. 12 compared with 20 for WBC).

2) Are there certain WBC types that are more prevalent in colon cancer patients or a certain distribution (i.e. if only one type is high and the others are fine or if one is high and one is low). What scenarios here make more of a case for colon cancer?

3) In colon cancer patients, do the levels (WBC/SED rate) typically remain at the same level throughout, or is it expected that they will eventually go even higher. If they do go higher at some point, what stage is the cancer likely in?

4) Does fasting have any effect on SED rate or blood count?

1 answers 1 comments 391 views 2022-10-06 13:55:35 UTC

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@Patient999 thanks for your questions.first of all, WBC and SED ( I assume it's ESR) are non specific markers of cancer in general (unless for certain type of leukaemia). Doctors don't use WBC or ESR to diagnose or provide prognosis of cancer patients.
Neither is white cell types used to assess cancer progression during treatment .
Finally fasting does not affect ESR.

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1 reply

@Patient999

Dr. John H Thank you for your response. To clarify, I am aware that the lab tests I specified are not reliable indicators of diagnosis or progression of the disease. My questions were more directed at the disease itself and how the scenarios I provided are affected by it (i.e. how these labs typically behave for someone that actually has colon cancer).

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