At a glance
| Analyte | Cancer antigen 15-3 |
|---|---|
| Also called | CA-15-3, Cancer antigen 15-3 |
| Method | Two-site sandwich chemiluminescence immunoassay |
| Sample type | Serum, Plasma |
| Panel | Tumour marker |
| Discipline | CLIA immunoassay |
| Brand | Mindray |
What CA 15-3 measures
CA 15-3 is measured in monitoring and follow-up of patients under the care of a physician, in breast-associated contexts. As with the rest of this group its value lies in the direction and rate of change across serial samples rather than in a single number, and it is raised in a range of benign conditions including liver and inflammatory disease. It is not used to answer a diagnostic question on its own, and a result is reported to be read alongside imaging, examination and the patient’s treatment history. Laboratories following patients on treatment usually schedule the measurement to align with the clinical review rather than the other way round.
How Philippine laboratories run it
Ordered by oncology and breast services on patients already under follow-up, so demand is repeat testing on a defined list and is concentrated in the larger hospitals and cancer centres. That produces a low but steady consumption pattern. Because the marker is followed over long periods, continuity of supply and of platform matters more than raw volume: an interruption that forces a laboratory to send a sample elsewhere introduces a method difference into a series that is being read precisely for its consistency.
Analyzers it runs on
Calibrator, controls and companion tests
Delivered with the rest of the tumour marker panel, on the same schedule as CA 15-3.
Storage and handling
Refrigerated, upright, and not frozen.
Buying CA 15-3 in the Philippines
CA 15-3 is supplied for the CL-2600i and CL-900i. We deliver it with CA 125 and CEA, because a run held up waiting on a separate order costs the same shift a stock-out does. Delivery is scheduled against your monthly CA 15-3 count, so the bench is not rationing tests in the last week of the month. How we plan clia immunoassay supply.
Questions about CA 15-3
Why do serial tumour marker results need to stay on one platform?
Because different manufacturers’ assays are not necessarily interchangeable, so a change of method can shift the reported value without anything changing in the patient. When a marker is being followed as a trend over months, that shift is easy to misread as a clinical change. Laboratories try to keep a patient’s series on one platform and flag the method when they cannot.
Order CA 15-3
Tell us your monthly CA 15-3 volume and we will quote a supply schedule for CL-2600i. We reply within one business day.
Request a quotation