Before discussing how quickly cancer spreads, it is important for our readers to understand that cancer is an umbrella term that describes a disease characterized by rapid growth of abnormal cells. Gene mutations, sometimes, instruct cells to go rogue and the abnormal behaviour causes cancer.
Every cancer has its own characters. Moreover, each cancer has multiple subcategories. Hence, all types of cancers do not show the same behavioural pattern. There is no universal growth rate for cancers. Some cancers tend to remain within the site of their formation. Some types grow at a snail’s pace. Aggressive cancers grow rapidly and tend to metastasize even before their diagnosis.
How quickly a specific cancer will grow and spread also depends on a cluster of factors including the grade and the stage of the cancer. The oncologists at the best cancer hospital in Eastern India consider these factors to predict cancer progression and a patient’s prognosis.
How Cancer Spreads
Cancer is of two types:
- Solid Tumour Cancers such as breast cancer, prostate cancer that forms in tissues and organs
- Liquid or Blood Cancers such as lymphoma, leukemia and multiple myeloma that develop in blood cells
Cancer cells travel through the lymphatic system or blood stream to invade other organs of the body. Most cells are destroyed before they find a new organ to survive. But a few stay alive and grow in a new organ of the body. This process is called metastasis. A particular cancer is always named after the primary site of its formation and not where it spreads to. For example, if prostate cancer spreads to bones, it will still be called prostate cancer and not bone cancer.
The process of metastases undergoes a series of steps that include:
- Invading a normal tissue
- Tricking the immune system surveillance into believing that they are normal cells
- Getting through the walls of the lymph nodes or blood vessels to spread to distant organs of the body
- Creating an independent blood supply to form and support a new tumour
If the cancerous cells fail to complete any of the above-stated steps, it will end the process of metastases. Localized cancer cells are easier to treat. But once the metastasis happens, cancer cells become more aggressive and create a terrible impact on patients. Metastatic cancers are hard to treat and in most cases, the cause of cancer-related death.
TNM
TNM is a universal term used for staging most adult cancers. T refers to tumour size, N refers to the number of nodes involved and M refers to metastases.
Grade
The grade of malignant tumours implies how aggressive malignant cells look under a microscope. Grading uses numbers to describe the degree of abnormality.
- GX: Undetermined
- G1: Well-differentiated
- G2: Intermediate grade or moderately differentiated
- G3: Poorly differentiated ( high grade)
- G4: Undifferentiated (high grade)
How Oncologists Predict Cancer Progression
The oncologists at the best cancer hospital in West Bengal predict cancer progression after considering the following factors:
- The location and type of the cancer
- The stage and the grade of the cancer
- Other characteristics like hormonal status and gene mutations
A fast growing cancer does not always mean a poor prognosis for the patients. Similarly, kidney cancer and cervical cancer do not spread quickly but they usually do not cause symptoms in primary stages. Therefore, they are often diagnosed when cancers has already metastasized.