Metastatic cancer
- Article
- 2021-01-31
What Is Metastatic Cancer?
Cancer that spreads from where it started to a distant part of the body is called metastatic cancer. For many types of cancer, it is also referred to as stage IV (4) cancer. The process by which cancer cells spread to other parts of the body is called metastasis .
When viewed under a microscope and tested in other ways, metastatic cancer cells have characteristics like those of the primary cancer and not like the cells where the metastatic cancer is found. This is how doctors can tell that it is cancer that has spread from another part of the body.
Metastatic cancer has the same name as the primary cancer. For example, breast cancer that spreads to the lungs is called metastatic breast cancer, not lung cancer. It's treated like stage IV breast cancer, not lung cancer.
Sometimes when people are diagnosed with metastatic cancer, doctors can't say where it started. This type of cancer is called cancer of unknown primary origin or CUP . See the Carcinoma or Unknown Primary page for more information.
How cancer spreads
Cancer cells spread throughout the body in a series of steps. These steps include:
- grow into, or invade, near normal tissue
- moving through the walls of nearby lymph nodes or blood vessels
- travel through the lymphatic system and bloodstream to other parts of the body
- stop in small blood vessels in a distant location, invade the blood vessel walls and move to the surrounding tissue i>
- grow in this tissue until a small tumor forms
- causing new blood vessels to grow, creating a blood supply that allows the metastatic tumor to continue to grow
Most of the time, spreading cancer cells die at some point in this process. But as long as the conditions are right for the cancer cells at every step, some of them can form new tumors in other parts of the body. Metastatic cancer cells can also remain dormant in a remote location for many years before they start growing again, if at all.
Where cancer spreads
Cancer can spread to almost any part of the body, although different types of cancer are more likely to spread to certain areas than others. The most common places where cancer spreads are bones, liver, and lungs. The following list shows the most common sites of metastasis, excluding the lymph nodes, for some common cancers:
| Cancer type | Main sites of metastasis |
|---|---|
| Bladder | Bone, liver, lung |
| Chest | Bone, brain, liver, lung |
| Colon | Liver, lung, peritoneum |
| Kidney | Adrenal gland, bones, brain, liver, lung |
| Long | Adrenal gland, bone, brain, liver, other lung |
| Melanoma | Bone, brain, liver, lung, skin, muscle |
| Ovary | Liver, lung, peritoneum |
| Pancreas | Liver, lung, peritoneum |
| Prostate | Adrenal gland, bone, liver, lung |
| Rectal | Liver, lung, peritoneum |
| Stomach | Liver, lung, peritoneum |
| Thyroid | Bone, liver, lung |
| Uterus | Bone, liver, lung, peritoneum, vagina |
Symptoms of metastatic cancer
Metastatic cancer doesn't always cause symptoms. When symptoms occur, how they are, and how often you have them depends on the size and location of the metastatic tumors. Some common symptoms of metastatic cancer are:
Treatment for metastatic cancer
There are treatments for most types of metastatic cancer. Often the goal of metastatic cancer treatment is to control it by stopping or slowing its growth. Some people can live for years with well-controlled metastatic cancer. Other treatments can improve quality of life by relieving symptoms. This concern is
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