Metastasis Disease

Metastasis (mets) is the spreading of a disease from one organ to another, non-adjacent organ.   This only occurs with cancer and infections, forming a secondary tumor or disease.  The cancer cells move through the blood or lymphatic system to settle into a new area.  The moved cells retain the name of the original site.  For example, when cancerous lung cells move to the breast, they are called metastasis lung cancer, not breast cancer.

Mets usually occurs in the late stages of cancer when the cells are most active. Cancer cells, like all cells in the body, can only survive in their special environment.  Thus, when cancer cells relocate, they can normally survive only where the organ has similar characteristics. Prostate cancer cells can usually survive in the bone and colon cancer only in the liver. The metastasis occurs when the new site contains some essential ingredient as the original site.  For example, breast cancer cells require calcium so they metastasize to the bones where the cancer cells can get calcium ions.

It is not uncommon for cancer tests to locate a secondary cancer, or a metastasis without locating the primary cancer.  The original cancer may be growing at a much slower rate than the metastasis causing it to show up earlier than the primary cancer.  If a second cancer is found in a patient, it is rarely a second primary cancer; it is normally a mets.

Treatment for metastasis cancer has the same treatment options as primary cancer:  surgery, chemotherapy, biological therapy or hormone therapy.  The treatments for metastasized cancer are not very effective except for a few like testicular cancer.