title: A Comparative Study of Bone Scan Findings and Serum Levels of Tumor Marker CA15-3 in Patients with Breast Carcinoma.
abstract: Breast cancer is one of the most frequent malignancies in the world. Available staging procedures to detect breast cancer are bone scan, chest X-ray, liver ultrasonography, computerized tomography, estimation of tumor markers like carbohydrate antigen (CA15-3) and carcino embryonic antigen. These procedures are expensive and may not be required in all cases. Out of 70 patients studied, 55 had normal CA15-3 and 15 had elevated levels of Ca15-3. Eight (14.5%) of the 55 patients with normal CA15-3 had abnormal bone scan. Fifteen patients had CA15-3 levels above the normal range and among these 9 (60%) had abnormal bone scan. While prime facie it would appear that a high level of CA15-3 correlate with abnormal bone scan, it is also true that the numbers are small at present and conclusions about the validity of CA15-3 as marker of bone metastasis may be premature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Tata Memorial Hospital, Parel, Mumbai, 400012 India  ; B/2 Gnyanadeep CHS, 17th Road, Santacruz West, Mumbai, 400054 India.
authors.forename: Meera S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Ghadge
authors.forename: Purva P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Naik
authors.forename: Bijaynath P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Tiwari
authors.forename: Ruprekha M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Hegde
authors.forename: Tanaji J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Matale
keywords: Bone scan; Breast cancer; CA15-3; Metastasis; Tumor marker