What is Metastatic Disease?

What is Metastasis disease? This is a disease that starts in one organ of the body and then travels through the blood stream to another organ. When these tumor cells spread, they will have the same cell make up as the primary tumor. For example, if there is cancer in the breast, and the cancer enters the blood stream and goes to the lungs, then that would be metastasis breast cancer instead of lung cancer. These kinds of tumors usually occur in the late stages of cancer. They are most commonly found in the brain, liver, adrenals, and the bones.

Some symptoms to watch for in metastasis disease are headache, weight loss, body weakness, bone pain and loss of appetite. The same symptoms occur if the tumor was in the liver, the bones, the lung and other parts as well. Just because you have these symptoms does not mean that you have cancer.

There are several tests the doctor will perform to check for metastasis disease. They can run a MRI scan, chest x-ray, bone scan, CAT scan and a PET scan. Once the doctors have found the cancer tissue they can look at it under a microscope and tell if it is the primary cell or the secondary(metastasis).

Treatment for this disease depends if the cancer is localized or spread to other organs. Localized tumors have a higher survival rate and the treatments take better. When the cancer has metastasized then the doctors look for several different things. The type of primary cancer, the age of the patient, general health, the size and position of the cancer and past treatment of the primary cancer are all factors. Depending on all of the above, there is radiosurgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy or a combination of all of these.