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Metastasis
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Metastasis is what happens when cancer cells leave the place where the cancer started and end up settling somewhere else in the body. The trip can involve several stages: invading the neighboring tissue, getting into the bloodstream and surviving in there, later exiting into another tissue and, once settled, starting to grow in that new spot.
There's one point that often trips people up. Even though the tumor shows up in another organ, it doesn't become a cancer of that organ: it keeps the type of the primary site, the place where everything began. It's like someone who moves to a new city and still has the same birthplace. The address changed, not the origin.
In brief
Metastasis occurs when cancer cells leave the site where the cancer began and reach another part of the body.
The process can involve invading nearby tissue, entering and surviving in the circulation, moving into another tissue, and growing at the new site.
The route has two endpoints: the original tumor and a new site. Between them, cells may cross tissue and travel through the circulation.
Even when it shows up in another organ, the tumor keeps the cancer type of the primary site, that is, the place where it began.
Sources (2)
- National Cancer InstituteMetastatic Cancer: When Cancer Spreads
- National Cancer InstituteTumor Metastasis
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated