Tumor Size

mindy10
mindy10 Member Posts: 182 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi I have a question, does anyone know if the size of the tumor has anything to do with how fast it might spread to other organs. Does bigger tumors cause it to spread faster than a little tumor would? Sending prayers to all of you going through this out there... Mindy

Comments

  • ron50
    ron50 Member Posts: 1,723 Member
    #2
    Hi Mindy,
    Size isn't as important as the agressiveness of the ca . Some of the larger cancers are old and slow growing. Mine was not very large but my surgeon described it as "frightfully aggressive"and it invaded six lymph nodes very quickly,hope this helps, Ron.
  • oneagleswings
    oneagleswings Member Posts: 425 Member
    #3
    ron50 said:

    Hi Mindy,
    Size isn't as important as the agressiveness of the ca . Some of the larger cancers are old and slow growing. Mine was not very large but my surgeon described it as "frightfully aggressive"and it invaded six lymph nodes very quickly,hope this helps, Ron.

    Hi Mindy:
    Most definately the degree of differentiation and the aggressiveness is much more important than the size in the spread of the tumour...but what really matters is how the tumour or tumours respond to the chemo...
    Bev
  • spongebob
    spongebob Member Posts: 2,565 Member
    #4
    Mindy -

    There are really two ways that cancer spreads; one through the lymphatic system, which is sort of an auxiliary circulatory system which can carry cancer cells from an affected lumph node to just about anywhere in the body. The other way is through cellular contact.

    Ron and Bev are both correct that the size of the tumor doesn't necessarily indicate its "Aggressiveness", however, the larger a tumor is and the further outside the colon it grows, the greater the possibility is that it may cause contact mets; i.e. spreading cancer to nearby organs by coming into direct and constant contact with them or by sloughing live cells into the viscera where they can come into contact with other organs.

    Hope this helps. Be well,

    - SpongeBob

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