# What Is the Actual Cause of Death In Cancer Patients?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-actual-cause-of-death-in-cancer-patients/252424>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 27, 2004, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-actual-cause-of-death-in-cancer-patients/252424 "2004-06-27T18:47:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Anaxagoras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b77776/32.png) [@Anaxagoras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaxagoras)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-actual-cause-of-death-in-cancer-patients/252424/1 "2004-06-27T18:47:34Z")

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Or, what is the physiological process by which a human dies from cancer?

Thanks

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**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-actual-cause-of-death-in-cancer-patients/252424/2 "2004-06-27T18:54:32Z")

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It’s different depending on the cancer. A co-worker of my wife’s died from throat cancer - in her case, the throat simply closed up. At one point, they had to insert a breathing tube or she would have died then. She lived another few weeks.

I imagine that when organs are infiltrated by cancer, people often die when the organ fails completely.

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**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-actual-cause-of-death-in-cancer-patients/252424/3 "2004-06-27T20:04:29Z")

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The book _How We Die_ by Sherwin Nuland covers this topic in quite great detail. Nuland describes the physiological processes that cause people to die from a variety of casues. IIRC, he has two chapters on cancer.

Both of my parents died of cancer. My mother had colon cancer and she died as a result of starvation because her body could not provide any nutrients to her system anymore. She also became dehydrated. The combination of the caused her heart to fail.

My father died of pancreatic cancer, although we did not know that until after he died. His death certificate read that he died:

1. Of cardiac arrest caused by
2. A pulmonary embolism caused by
3. Pancreatic cancer

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**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-actual-cause-of-death-in-cancer-patients/252424/4 "2004-06-27T21:26:20Z")

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My son’s certificate of death says:  
a. Cardiorespiratory Arrest  
b. Myelodysplastic Syndrome  
c. Acute Myelogenous Leukemia

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-actual-cause-of-death-in-cancer-patients/252424/5 "2004-06-27T22:28:42Z")

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[An earlier thread on the subject.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=189749)

Inside is a link to an even earlier thread.

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**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-actual-cause-of-death-in-cancer-patients/252424/6 "2004-06-27T22:54:53Z")

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My father’s death certificate listed cause of death as pneumonia as a result of carcinomatosis.