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- Physical Examination
- There are no specific findings for metastatic cancer on physical examination. But there may be:
- • fever
- • tenderness of the bones
- • nodules under the skin
- • enlarged liver and spleen
- • enlarged, hard lymph nodes
- • fluid in the abdomen (ascites)
- • jaundice (the skin turning yellow)
- • swelling of the legs (edema).
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- Blood and Other Tests
- • Routine liver function studies—blood tests looking at serum bilirubin and liver enzymes—may be abnormal.
- They can, however, be completely normal even in advanced stages of metastatic cancer.
- • There may be elevation of specific substances that are markers for particular cancers. Metastatic colon cancer,
- for example, may be associated with an elevated carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), testicular cancer with a high
- alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and/or elevated HCG, and ovarian cancer with an elevated CA-125. But not all tumors
- have specific serum markers.