Conditions
Metastasis
Metastatic cancerTumour that grows far from where the cancer started, from cells that break away from the original tumour. It means stage IV disease, but some metastases can be operated on with curative intent.
Tumour cells travel through the blood, through the lymphatic vessels or, inside the abdomen, directly across the peritoneal cavity. The most common sites are the lymph nodes, liver, lung, bone, brain and peritoneum, and each tumour has its preferences: colon cancer spreads mainly to the liver and ovarian cancer to the peritoneum.
A metastasis keeps the type of the original tumour. If colon cancer reaches the liver, it is called colon cancer liver metastases and is treated with colon cancer drugs. Cancer that starts in the liver itself, such as hepatocellular carcinoma, is a different disease.
It may already be present at diagnosis (synchronous metastases) or appear months or years after the tumour was treated (metachronous). It is looked for with CT, PET-CT or MRI, depending on the type of cancer.
Having metastases does not always mean the cancer is incurable. When there are few of them in one organ, they can sometimes be removed. In colorectal cancer, surgery for liver metastases achieves 40-60% five-year survival, and in selected patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis cytoreduction with HIPEC also aims at cure. When they cannot be operated on, treatment is mainly systemic, with chemotherapy, immunotherapy or targeted therapy, and its aim is to control the disease.
This explanation is intended as general information and does not replace a specialist assessment of an individual case.
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