a ? about metastasis



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Woodpecker

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My brother just had a 1 cm pancreatic cancer removed. Today we got the pathology reports back which
showed that the cancer had spread to several lymph nodes. Is it unusual for a tumor that small to
have already metastasized? Feel free to e-mail me.

Woodpecker
 
"woodpecker" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> My brother just had a 1 cm pancreatic cancer removed. Today we got the pathology reports back
> which showed that the cancer had spread to several lymph nodes. Is it unusual for a tumor that
> small to have already metastasized? Feel free to e-mail me.
>
> Woodpecker

It's not unusual in aggressive cancers, as is usually the case with pancreatic cancers.

Peter Moran.
 
Peter Moran wrote:

> "woodpecker" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:21949-4021C49C-9@storefull-
> 3133.bay.webtv.net...
> > My brother just had a 1 cm pancreatic cancer removed. Today we got the pathology reports back
> > which showed that the cancer had spread to several lymph nodes. Is it unusual for a tumor that
> > small to have already metastasized? Feel free to e-mail me.
> >
> > Woodpecker
>
> It's not unusual in aggressive cancers, as is usually the case with pancreatic cancers.
>
> Peter Moran.

What does that mean in terms of time and outcome? and mets (further away from the pancreas?) I ask
because I don't recall lymph nodes mentioned before (yet they probably are/were involved in those
with mets? J
 
Wed, 4 Feb 2004 23:20:44 -0500 (EST) in article
<[email protected]> [email protected]
(woodpecker) wrote:

>My brother just had a 1 cm pancreatic cancer removed. Today we got the pathology reports back which
>showed that the cancer had spread to several lymph nodes. Is it unusual for a tumor that small to
>have already metastasized? Feel free to e-mail me.
>
Some tongue or throat cancers can produce large metastases on the neck even when the primary tumor
is still so small that it is not detectable by any means.

--
Matti Narkia
 
In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (woodpecker) wrote:

> My brother just had a 1 cm pancreatic cancer removed. Today we got the pathology reports back
> which showed that the cancer had spread to several lymph nodes. Is it unusual for a tumor that
> small to have already metastasized? Feel free to e-mail me.

Unfortunately, no, it's not unsual, particularly for pancreatic cancer. In fact, what is unusual for
pancreatic cancer is for it to be diagnosed early enough that there is actually a chance for a
complete surgical excision. The vast majority of pancreatic cancer patients have unresectable or
metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis.

--
Orac |"A statement of fact cannot be insolent."
|
|"If you cannot listen to the answers, why do you inconvenience me with questions?"
 
"J" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Peter Moran wrote:
>
> > "woodpecker" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:21949-4021C49C-9@storefull-
> > 3133.bay.webtv.net...
> > > My brother just had a 1 cm pancreatic cancer removed. Today we got
the
> > > pathology reports back which showed that the cancer had spread to several lymph nodes. Is it
> > > unusual for a tumor that small to have already metastasized? Feel free to e-mail me.
> > >
> > > Woodpecker
> >
> > It's not unusual in aggressive cancers, as is usually the case with pancreatic cancers.
> >
> > Peter Moran.
>
> What does that mean in terms of time and outcome? and mets (further away
from
> the pancreas?) I ask because I don't recall lymph nodes mentioned before (yet they
probably
> are/were involved in those with mets? J

You will have a fair idea yourself of the usual prognosis with pancreatic cancer. I suspect the
reason is that it is rarely diagnosed diagnosed before there is lymph node/metastatic spread. That
also means it is not possible to dissect out the influence of various factors on survival rates or
final outcomes.

Peter Moran
 
"woodpecker" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> My brother just had a 1 cm pancreatic cancer removed. Today we got the pathology reports back
> which showed that the cancer had spread to several lymph nodes. Is it unusual for a tumor that
> small to have already metastasized? Feel free to e-mail me.
>
> Woodpecker
>

Very common, unfortunately