Is there any rhyme or reason to where cancer spread through the body? Meaning: does cancer move directly from organ to organ, or is it just as likely to “jump”?
There is quite a bit of rhyme, reason, and randomness involved. Different types of cancer tend to metastasize to different sites. Some kinds of cancer spread by blood vessels, and some spread by the lymphatic system. Cancer can also spread by growing directly into adjacent organs.
Read this:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Sites-Types/metastatic
This is the type of detail available:
*Cancer cells can spread to almost any part of the body. Cancer cells frequently spread to lymph nodes (rounded masses of lymphatic tissue) near the primary tumor (regional lymph nodes). This is called lymph node involvement or regional disease. Cancer that spreads to other organs or to lymph nodes far from the primary tumor is called metastatic disease. Doctors sometimes also call this distant disease.
The most common sites of metastasis from solid tumors are the lungs, bones, liver, and brain. Some cancers tend to spread to certain parts of the body. For example, lung cancer often metastasizes to the brain or bones, and colon cancer frequently spreads to the liver. Prostate cancer tends to spread to the bones. Breast cancer commonly spreads to the bones, lungs, liver, or brain. However, each of these cancers can spread to other parts of the body as well.
Because blood cells travel throughout the body, leukemia, multiple myeloma, and lymphoma cells are usually not localized when the cancer is diagnosed. Tumor cells may be found in the blood, several lymph nodes, or other parts of the body such as the liver or bones. This type of spread is not referred to as metastasis.*
AWESOME Phil! Thx
And hereis a brief thread answer a question of mine: When did doctors come up with the concept of metastasis?