[QUOTE=OtakuLoki]
A bit a hijack, here - I have the impression that pancreatic cancers are usually considered one of the more deadly ones that people can contract. Is that because of the importance of the pancreas, or is that because pancreatic cancers are not usually detected until they’ve reached Stage IV?
Either way, I am hoping good things come to both Mr. Snow and Mrs. Edwards.
[/QUOTE]
That’s what got my uncle. I did not hear that it had spread anywhere else. He had 4 previous cancers; all unrelated. Funny how that’s considered a “good” thing in the world of cancer.
[Actual question, I’m not being sarcastic]- If there is cancer in an organ it does not count as that type of cancer if it did not start there? For example, if cancer in the lungs metastasizes into the stomach, then the person has metastatic lung cancer trather than stomach cancer?
[/QUOTE]
Classifying cancers is one of those things that can be done in many different ways. The “metastatic” indicates that it’s assumed to have reached there from another place (it is perfectly possible to get unrelated cancers in two organs).
My aunt’s had breast cancer twice; since it was 11 years apart, the second one wasn’t labeled “metastatic”, but if it had been less than 5 years after her first mastectomy, it would have; note that this was according to Spanish practice and MMV in other countries. It seems to be more of a heads up to the doctors to look for other possible tumors than anything else, really.
For your example, what I usually head in Spain is “lung cancer, with metastasis to the stomach”. It still means “he’s got it bad.”
Tony Snow is the one (former) Fox talking head that I actually liked listening to. I would turn on Limbaugh’s radio show if I new Snow was guest hosting. He’s eloquent and not overblown like Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity. (ugh) Tony’s got class.
Anway, I feel really bad for him and his family. Cancer just sucks.
[QUOTE=Sampiro]
[Actual question, I’m not being sarcastic]- If there is cancer in an organ it does not count as that type of cancer if it did not start there? For example, if cancer in the lungs metastasizes into the stomach, then the person has metastatic lung cancer trather than stomach cancer?
[/QUOTE]
I know it makes a difference for women’s reproductive cancers. I was a candidate for genetic testing for the “breast cancer gene” (BRAC-1 and/or 2), which actually is a predicter for breast and ovarian cancer. But the genetic link is to ovarian cancer, not uterine cancer or any other type of reproductive cancer. In determining whether I should have genetic testing or not, the genetic counselor had to confirm that my grandmother (who died of “liver cancer” according to the death certificate from the mid-'80s) actually had metastized ovarian cancer, which was my mom’s recollection and which the medical records proved was correct.
Cancer just sucks.