YOUR CANCER YOUR LIFE – NATURAL HISTORY OF CANCER (WITHOUT EFFECTIVE TREATMENT…)
Without effective treatment, the primary cancer continues to grow at a fairly steady rate, pressing on, and eventually growing through, nearby structures. Sooner or later, nearly all untreated
or unsuccessfully treated cancers give rise to secondary growths.
For each particular type of cancer, there is a characteristic or average pattern. For example, a cancer starting in the bone usually spreads through the bloodstream very early, and the first
secondary growths are nearly always in the lungs. A cancer starting in the bowel usually takes quite a few months before it metastasizes. It then generally goes first through the lymph
channels and next through the bloodstream. The first blood- borne secondary growths usually appear in the liver. Of course, as with all averages, we do not see the same pattern in every
individual. One person with a bowel cancer may not have any warning signs of the disease until a complete blockage of the bowel develops. At the operation, the surgeon may find no traces
of cancer elsewhere. Another person with exactly the same size primary bowel cancer could have multiple secondary growths in the liver, with no symptoms at all from the primary tumour.
Everyone is different, but there are average or usual patterns to guide you and your practitioner in best planning your tests and treatment.
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