How does cancer spread to other parts of the body?

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All cancers begin in a single organ or tissue, such as the lungs or skin. When these cancers are confined in their original organ or tissue, they are generally more treatable.

But a cancer that spreads is much more dangerous, as the organs it spreads to may be vital organs. A skin cancer, for example, might spread to the brain.

This new growth makes the cancer much more challenging to treat, as it can be difficult to find all the new tumours. If a cancer can invade different organs or tissues, it can quickly become lethal.

When cancer spreads in this way, it’s called metastasis. Metastasis is responsible for the majority (67%) of cancer deaths.

Cells are supposed to stick to surrounding tissue

Our bodies are made up of trillions of tiny cells. To keep us healthy, our bodies are constantly replacing old or damaged cells.

Each cell has a specific job and a set of instructions (DNA) that tells it what to do. However, sometimes DNA can get damaged.

This damage might change the instructions. A cell might now multiply uncontrollably, or lose a property known as adherence. This refers to how sticky a cell is, and how well it can cling to other surrounding cells and stay where it’s supposed to be.

If a cancer cell loses its adherence, it can break off from the original tumour and travel through the bloodstream or lymphatic system to almost anywhere. This is how metastasis happens.

Many of these travelling cancer cells will die, but some will settle in a new location and begin to form new cancers.

Cancer cells
Some cells settle in a new location.
Scipro/Shutterstock

Particular cancers are more likely to metastasise to particular organs that help support their growth. Breast cancers commonly metastasise to the bones, liver, and lungs, while skin cancers like melanomas are more likely to end up in the brain and heart.

Unlike cancers which form in solid organs or tissues, blood cancers like leukaemia already move freely through the bloodstream, but can escape to settle in other organs like the liver or brain.

When do cancers metastasise?

The longer a cancer grows, the more likely it is to metastasise. If not caught early, a patient’s cancer may have metastasised even before it’s initially diagnosed.

Metastasis can also occur after cancer treatment. This happens when cancer cells are dormant during treatment – drugs may not “see” those cells. These invisible cells can remain hidden in the body, only to wake up and begin growing into a new cancer months or even years later.

For patients who already have cancer metastases at diagnosis, identifying the location of the original tumour – called the “primary site” – is important. A cancer that began in the breast but has spread to the liver will probably still behave like a breast cancer, and so will respond best to an anti-breast cancer therapy, and not anti-liver cancer therapy.

As metastases can sometimes grow faster than the original tumour, it’s not always easy to tell which tumour came first. These cancers are called “cancers of unknown primary” and are the 11th most commonly diagnosed cancers in Australia.

One way to improve the treatment of metastatic cancer is to improve our ways of detecting and identifying cancers, to ensure patients receive the most effective drugs for their cancer type.

What increases the chances of metastasis and how can it be prevented?

If left untreated, most cancers will eventually acquire the ability to metastasise.

While there are currently no interventions that specifically prevent metastasis, cancer patients who have their tumours surgically removed may also be given chemotherapy (or other drugs) to try and weed out any hidden cancer cells still floating around.

The best way to prevent metastasis is to diagnose and treat cancers early. Cancer screening initiatives such as Australia’s cervical, bowel, and breast cancer screening programs are excellent ways to detect cancers early and reduce the chances of metastasis.

Older woman has mammogram
The best way to prevent cancer spreading is to diagnose and treat them early.
Peakstock/Shutterstock

New screening programs to detect cancers early are being researched for many types of cancer. Some of these are simple: CT scans of the body to look for any potential tumours, such as in England’s new lung cancer screening program.

Using artificial intelligence (AI) to help examine patient scans is also possible, which might identify new patterns that suggest a cancer is present, and improve cancer detection from these programs.

More advanced screening methods are also in development. The United States government’s Cancer Moonshot program is currently funding research into blood tests that could detect many types of cancer at early stages.

One day there might even be a RAT-type test for cancer, like there is for COVID.

Will we be able to prevent metastasis in the future?

Understanding how metastasis occurs allows us to figure out new ways to prevent it. One idea is to target dormant cancer cells and prevent them from waking up.

Directly preventing metastasis with drugs is not yet possible. But there is hope that as research efforts continue to improve cancer therapies, they will also be more effective at treating metastatic cancers.

For now, early detection is the best way to ensure a patient can beat their cancer.The Conversation

Sarah Diepstraten, Senior Research Officer, Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and John (Eddie) La Marca, Senior Resarch Officer, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • Oranges vs Lemons – Which is Healthier?

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    Our Verdict

    When comparing oranges to lemons, we picked the oranges.

    Why?

    In the battle of these popular citrus fruits, there is a clear winner on the nutritional front.

    Things were initially promising for lemons when looking at the macros—lemons have a little more fiber while oranges are slightly higher in carbs, but the differences are small and both are very healthy in this regard.

    However, alas for this writer who prefers sour fruits to sweet ones (I’m sweet enough already), the micronutrient profiles tell a different story:

    In terms of vitamins, oranges have more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B9, E, and choline. In contrast, lemons have a (very) little more vitamin B6. You might be wondering about vitamin C, since both fruits are famous for that—they’re equal on vitamin C. But, with that stack we listed above, oranges clearly win the vitamin category easily.

    As for minerals, oranges boast more calcium, copper, magnesium, potassium, selenium, and zinc, while lemons have more iron, manganese, and phosphorus.

    Technically lemons also have more sodium, but the numbers are truly miniscule (by coincidence, we discover upon grabbing a calculator, you’d need to eat approximately your own bodyweight in whole lemons to get to the RDA of sodium—and that’s to reach the RDA, not the upper healthy limit) so we’ll overlook the tiny sodium difference as irrelevant. Which means, while closer than the vitamins category, oranges win on minerals with a 6:3 lead over lemons.

    Both fruits offer generous helpings of flavonoids and other polyphenols such as naringenin and hesperidin, which have anti-inflammatory properties and more specifically can also reduce allergy symptoms (unless, of course, you are allergic to citrus fruits, which is a relatively rare but extant allergy).

    In short: as ever, enjoy both; diversity is great for the health. But if you want to maximize the nutrients you get, it’s oranges.

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Lemons vs Limes – Which is Healthier?

    Take care!

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  • Ice Baths: To Dip Or Not To Dip?

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    Many Are Cold, But Few Are Frozen

    We asked you for your (health-related) view of ice baths, and got the above-depicted, below-described, set of responses:

    • About 31% said “ice baths are great for the health; we should take them”
    • About 29% said “ice baths’ risks outweigh their few benefits”
    • About 26% said “ice baths’ benefits outweigh their few risks”
    • About 14% said “ice baths are dangerous and can kill you; best avoided”

    So what does the science say?

    Freezing water is very dangerous: True or False?

    True! Water close to freezing point is indeed very dangerous, and can most certainly kill you.

    Fun fact, though: many such people are still saveable with timely medical intervention, in part because the same hypothermia that is killing them also slows down the process* of death

    Source (and science) for both parts of that:

    Cold water immersion: sudden death and prolonged survival

    *and biologically speaking, death is a process, not an event, by the way. But we don’t have room for that today!

    (unless you die in some sudden violent way, such as a powerful explosion that destroys your brain instantly; then it’s an event)

    Ice baths are thus also very dangerous: True or False?

    False! Assuming that they are undertaken responsibly and you have no chronic diseases that make it more dangerous for you.

    What does “undertaken responsibly” mean?

    Firstly, the temperature should not be near freezing. It should be 10–15℃, which for Americans is 50–59℉.

    You can get a bath thermometer to check this, by the way. Here’s an example product on Amazon.

    Secondly, your ice bath should last no more than 10–15 minutes. This is not a place to go to sleep.

    What chronic diseases would make it dangerous?

    Do check with your doctor if you have any doubts, as no list we make can be exhaustive and we don’t know your personal medical history, but the main culprits are:

    • Cardiovascular disease
    • Hypertension
    • Diabetes (any type)

    The first two are for heart attack risk; the latter is because diabetes can affect core temperature regulation.

    Ice baths are good for the heart: True or False?

    True or False depending on how they’re done, and your health before starting.

    For most people, undertaking ice baths responsibly, repeated ice bath use causes the cardiovascular system to adapt to better maintain homeostasis when subjected to thermal shock (i.e. sudden rapid changes in temperature).

    For example: Respiratory and cardiovascular responses to cold stress following repeated cold water immersion

    And because that was a small study, here’s a big research review with a lot of data; just scroll to where it has the heading“Specific thermoregulative adaptations to regular exposure to cold air and/or cold water exposure“ for many examples and much discussion:

    Health effects of voluntary exposure to cold water: a continuing subject of debate

    Ice baths are good against inflammation: True or False?

    True! Here’s one example:

    Winter-swimming as a building-up body resistance factor inducing adaptive changes in the oxidant/antioxidant status

    Uric acid and glutathione levels (important markers of chronic inflammation) are also significantly affected:

    Uric acid and glutathione levels during short-term whole body cold exposure

    Want to know more?

    That’s all we have room for today, but check out our previous “Expert Insights” main feature looking at Wim Hof’s work in cryotherapy:

    A Cold Shower A Day Keeps The Doctor Away?

    Enjoy!

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  • Get The Right Help For Your Pain

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    How Much Does It Hurt?

    Sometimes, a medical professional will ask us to “rate your pain on a scale of 1–10”.

    It can be tempting to avoid rating one’s pain too highly, because if we say “10” then where can we go from there? There is always a way to make pain worse, after all.

    But that kind of thinking, however logical, is folly—from a practical point of view. Instead of risking having to give an 11 later, you have now understated your level-10 pain as a “7” and the doctor thinks “ok, I’ll give Tylenol instead of morphine”.

    A more useful scale

    First, know this:

    Zero is not “this is the lowest level of pain I get to”.

    Zero is “no pain”.

    As for the rest…

    1. My pain is hardly noticeable.
    2. I have a low level of pain; I am aware of my pain only when I pay attention to it.
    3. My pain bothers me, but I can ignore it most of the time.
    4. I am constantly aware of my pain, but can continue most activities.
    5. I think about my pain most of the time; I cannot do some of the activities I need to do each day because of the pain.
    6. I think about my pain all of the time; I give up many activities because of my pain.
    7. I am in pain all of the time; It keeps me from doing most activities.
    8. My pain is so severe that it is difficult to think of anything else. Talking and listening are difficult.
    9. My pain is all that I can think about; I can barely move or talk because of my pain.
    10. I am in bed and I can’t move due to my pain; I need someone to take me to the emergency room because of my pain.

    10almonds tip: are you reading this on your phone? Screenshot the above, and keep it for when you need it!

    One extra thing to bear in mind…

    Medical staff will be more likely to believe a pain is being overstated, on a like-for-like basis, if you are a woman, or not white, or both.

    There are some efforts to compensate for this:

    A new government inquiry will examine women’s pain and treatment. How and why is it different?

    Some other resources of ours:

    Take care!

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Related Posts

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  • Behaving During the Holidays

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

    Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!

    In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

    As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

    So, no question/request too big or small

    ❝It’s hard to “behave” when it comes to holiday indulging…I’m on a low sodium, sugar restricted regimen from my doctor. Trying to get interested in bell peppers as a snack…wish me luck!❞

    Good luck! Other low sodium, low sugar snacks include:

    • Nuts! Unsalted, of course. We’re biased towards almonds 😉
    • Air-popped popcorn (you can season it, just not with salt/sugar!)
    • Fruit (but not fruit juice; it has to be in solid form)
    • Peas (not a classic snack food, we know, but they can be enjoyed many ways)
      • Seriously, try them frozen or raw! Frozen/raw peas are a great sweet snack.
      • Chickpeas are great dried/roasted, by the way, and give much of the same pleasure as a salty snack without being salty! Obviously, this means cooking them without salt, but that’s fine, or if using tinned, choose “in water” rather than “in brine”
    • Hummus is also a great healthy snack (check the ingredients for salt if not making it yourself, though) and can be enjoyed as a dip using raw vegetables (celery, carrot sticks, cruciferous vegetables, whatever you prefer)

    Enjoy!

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  • Burned Out By Tuesday?

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    Avoiding Burnout, The Active Way

    This is Dr. Claudine Holt. She’s double board-certified, in Occupational & Environmental Medicine, and Lifestyle Medicine.

    In short: preventative medicine in all parts of our life.

    Hopefully, you are reading this bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to take on another exciting day in this wonderful, beautiful world!

    On the other hand, it’s possible that you’re reading this semi-focussed, looking for a crumb of dopamine as much as you are looking for information.

    If you’ve ever had the “What a week!” / “It’s only Tuesday” moment, this one’s for you.

    What does Dr. Holt want us to know?

    You can recover from burnout without guilt

    Sometimes, we overreach ourselves. Sometimes, life overreaches us! Sometimes it’s not that we overcommitted—it’s just that we were taking each day as it comes, but sometimes several days gang up on us at once.

    Sometimes, even, we can feel exhausted when it seems like we haven’t done anything.

    Note: if you feel exhausted and it seems like you haven’t done anything, then be aware: you are exhausted for a reason!

    What that reason might be may vary, but contrary to popular belief, energy does not just vanish. It went somewhere.

    This goes double if you have any chronic illness(es), even if you’re not aware of having had a flare-up, chances are you were just exceptionally busy (on a cellular level).

    And it’s easy to think that “mere” cellular activity shouldn’t be exhausting, but that is 100% of where our energy transactions happen—whether or not we are consciously aware of them!

    See also: Eat To Beat Chronic Fatigue ← yes, this also covers when you are too exhausted to shop and cook like a TV chef

    Dr. Holt specializes in working with burned out medical professionals (and also specifically specializes in working with women), but there are lessons for everyone in her advice. For example:

    Fiction: ”Medicine is my calling–it’s who I am.”

    Fact: You are more than medicine! Remember that your career is just one aspect of your life. Don’t forget to create your big-picture vision and tend the garden of the other areas of your life too.

    ~ Dr. Claudine Holt

    Read more: Dr. Claudine Holt | Burnout: Fact vs Fiction

    This same thing can go for whatever part of your identity frequently follows “I’m a…”, and is somewhere that you put a lot of your energy; it could equally be a non-professional job like “homemaker”, or a relational status like “husband”, or a cultural identifier like “Christian”, or a hobby like “gardener” (assuming that is not also your profession, in which case, same item, different category).

    Indeed, a lot of women especially get hit by “the triple burden” of professional work, housework, and childcare. And it’s not even necessarily that we resent any of those things or feel like they’re a burden; we (hopefully) love our professions, homes, children. But, here’s the thing:

    No amount of love will add extra hours to the day.

    So what does she recommend doing about it, when sometimes we’re juggling things that can’t be dropped?

    Start simple, but start!

    Dr. Holt recommends to start with a smile (yes even if, and sometimes especially when, the circumstances do not feel like they merit it), and deploy some CBT tools:

    Two Hacks to Quickly Rise Above Burnout (Or Any Circumstance)

    We’ve expanded on this topic here:

    How To Manage Chronic Stress

    With a more level head on, it becomes easier to take on the next step, which creating healthy boundariesand that doesn’t just mean with other people!

    It also means slaying our own perfectionism and imposter syndrome—both things that will have us chasing our tails 36 hours per day if we let them.

    See also:

    ❝Burnout is the culture of our times. A culture that expects us to do more and think our way out of everything. A culture that asks for more than the body can bear. Unfortunately, even though the situation might not be of our creation, burnout culture is our inheritance.

    An inheritance we can either perpetuate—or change—depending on what we embody.❞

    Source: The Embodied MD on Burnout with Dr Claudine Holt

    That “embodiment” is partly our choices and actions that we bring and own just as we bring and own our body—and it’s partly our relationship with our body itself, and learning to love it, and work with it to achieve wonderful things, instead of just getting through the day.

    Which yes, does also mean making space for good diet, exercise, sleep and so forth, per:

    These Top Five Things Make The Biggest Difference To Health

    Want to know more?

    You might like to check out Dr. Holt’s website:

    The Embodied M.D. | Burnout Coach

    …where she also offers resources such as a blog and a podcast.

    Enjoy!

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  • 11 Things That Can Change Your Eye Color

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Eye color is generally considered so static that iris scans are considered a reasonable security method. However, it can indeed change—mostly for reasons you won’t want, though:

    Ringing the changes

    Putting aside any wishes of being a manga protagonist with violet eyes, here are the self-changing options:

    • Aging in babies: babies are often born with lighter eyes, which can darken as melanocytes develop during the first few months of life. This is similar to how a small child’s blonde hair can often be much darker by the time puberty hits!
    • Aging in adults: eyes may continue to darken until adulthood, while aging into the elderly years can cause them to lighten due to conditions like arcus senilis
    • Horner’s syndrome: a nerve disorder that can cause the eyes to become lighter due to loss of pigment
    • Fuchs heterochromic iridocyclitis: an inflammation of the iris that leads to lighter eyes over time
    • Pigment dispersion syndrome: the iris rubs against eye fibers, leading to pigment loss and lighter eyes
    • Kayser-Fleischer rings: excess copper deposits on the cornea, often due to Wilson’s disease, causing larger-than-usual brown or grayish rings around the iris
    • Iris melanoma: a rare cancer that can darken the iris, often presenting as brown spots
    • Cancer treatments: chemotherapy for retinoblastoma in children can result in lighter eye color and heterochromia
    • Medications: prostaglandin-based glaucoma treatments can darken the iris, with up to 23% of patients seeing this effect
    • Vitiligo: an autoimmune disorder that destroys melanocytes, mostly noticed in the skin, but also causing patchy loss of pigment in the iris
    • Emotional and pupil size changes: emotions and trauma can affect pupil size, making eyes appear darker or lighter temporarily by altering how much of the iris is visible

    For more about all these, and some notes about more voluntary changes (if you have certain kinds of eye surgery), enjoy:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    Understanding And Slowing The Progression Of Cataracts

    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

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    Learn to Age Gracefully

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