Commonly used breast cancer tumor markers 1.Serum cancer antigen 15-3 (CA15-3) Clinical significance: ①In the early diagnosis of breast cancer, the examination of serum CA15-3 can be used as an effective auxiliary tool for the differentiation of benign and malignant breast lesions and the confirmation of breast cancer diagnosis. ②CA15-3 is currently a more ideal serum tumor marker to monitor the recurrence and metastasis of breast cancer after surgery. CA15-3 is often measured once before surgery in order to compare with the CA15-3 measured after surgery. If the abnormally high CA15-3 level before surgery decreases significantly after surgery, it indicates that the patient’s condition is under control to some extent. ③CA15-3 can be used to guide clinical treatment. If the patient’s CA15-3 level continues to rise, it indicates that the disease continues to develop and should be examined comprehensively and, if necessary, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or endocrine therapy should be started or intensified or switched to endocrine therapy, etc. 2. Serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) Clinical significance: CEA is an embryonic antigen, which exists in the endothelial cells of the digestive tract of normal fetuses at 3-6 months of age. It is also one of the important indicators of possible tumor recurrence or metastasis. Clinically, it is often used in combination with CA15-3 for postoperative surveillance of breast cancer. When the value of CA15-3 and CEA are consistently elevated and remain high at the same time, it is more important to consider the possibility of metastasis and recurrence of breast cancer. 3.Serum cancer antigen 125 (CA125) Clinical significance: CA125 is an ovarian-associated antigen, which can be found in ovarian epithelial cancer, endometrial cancer, breast cancer and other malignant tumors. Although its diagnostic sensitivity for breast cancer is not as good as that of ovarian cancer, its combined measurement with other tumor markers can improve the accuracy of breast cancer diagnosis. 4.Serum cancer antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) Clinical significance: CA19-9 is abnormally elevated in pancreatic cancer, colon cancer and other malignant tumors of the gastrointestinal system and breast cancer. It is often measured in combination with other tumor markers and applied in the diagnosis of breast cancer. Pathologic tests Clinically, after the diagnosis of breast cancer is confirmed and surgical resection is performed, pathologic tests are required on the excised tissues. The five common pathological tests for breast cancer are as follows: PCNA (proliferating cell nuclear antigen), P53 gene, oncogene, ER (estrogen receptor), PR (progesterone receptor). The results are expressed as positive (+, ++, +++, ++++) and negative (-). Among them, positive ER and PR indicate hormone-dependent breast cancer with high efficiency of endocrine therapy, and vice versa; while positive PCNA (proliferating cell nuclear antigen), P53 gene and oncogene C-erbB-2 are not so good for breast cancer patients, the more positive plus signs they have, the more aggressive the tumor is, the more likely to recur and metastasize, and the prognosis The more positive plus signs they have, the more aggressive the tumor is, the more likely it is to recur and metastasize, and the worse the prognosis. The following three pictures show the cases of minimally invasive resection of breast tumors in our department (the patient was found to have breast nodules on examination and confirmed to be fibroadenoma by minimally invasive surgery) The first picture shows the ultrasound image of pre-surgical examination, the second picture shows the ultrasound image after minimally invasive resection during surgery, and the third picture shows the pathological image of the tumor, which was confirmed to be fibroadenoma.