Acta Clinica Croatica, cilt.62, sa.1, ss.201-207, 2023 (SCI-Expanded)
SUMMARY – Mammography is one of the gold standard screening tests for breast cancer. The effects of mammography procedure on blood parameters are not known. This study aimed to inves-tigate whether the procedure-associated breast compression affects the widely and simultaneously performed blood measurements of C-reactive protein (CRP), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), and cancer antigen (CA) 15-3. According to breast ultrasound examination results, participants were di-vided into 3 groups as follows: group 1 (participants with breast mass size ≥20.0 mm, n=48); group 2 (participants with breast mass size <20.0 mm, n=17); and group 3 (participants with no breast mass, n=23). In groups 1 and 2, on the day of the mammographic imaging study, serum CRP, CEA, and CA 15-3 levels were measured before and after the imaging study. Participants in group 3 had their blood parameters measured without mammography and/or any breast compression. Post-mammography blood measurements displayed a significant increase in serum CRP levels, and a significant decrease in serum CEA and CA 15-3 levels in group 1 (in comparison with the same day pre-mammography blood sampling levels; p<0.05 all). Although pre-mammography serum CEA levels in group 1 participants were significantly higher than those in group 2 and 3 participants, this significant elevation became nonsignificant at post-mammography measurements (p<0.05 and p>0.05, respectively). On the day of the mammographic imaging study, the optimal time of blood sampling for testing CRP, CEA and CA 15-3 levels in persons with a breast mass is before, but not after the mammographic imaging procedure. This issue requires additional detailed studies.