Question

pharmacology:

how is cancer spread?

Answer 1

Cancer cells spread through the body in a series of steps

1. Growing into, or invading, nearby normal tissue

2. Moving through the walls of nearby lymph nodes or blood vessels.

3. Travelling through the lymphatic system and bloodstream to other parts of the body.

4. Stopping in small blood vessels at a distant location, invading the blood vessel walls and moving into the surrounding tissue.

5. Growing in this tissue until a tiny tumor forms

6. Causing new blood vessels to grow which creates a blood supply that allows the tumor to continue growing.

Most of the time, spreading cancer cells die at some point in this process. But as long as conditions are favourable for the cancer cells at every step, some of them are able to form new tumors in other parts of the body. Metastatic cancer cells can also remain inactive at a distant site for many years before they begin to growagain, if at all.