Support for a metastatic diagnosis

Cancer cells can spread from the original tumour to other parts of your body through the lymphatic system or blood. These cells can then grow in other organs in your body to form a secondary tumour.

Different cancers can spread to different parts of the body. The most common parts of the body that cancer spreads to are the bones, liver, lungs and brain.

A metastatic cancer is named after the part of the body where it began. Even when cancer has spread to a new area, it is the same sort of cancer as when it started. For example, breast cancer that has spread to the liver is called metastatic breast cancer. Or prostate cancer that spreads to the bones will be called metastatic prostate cancer and will be treated with prostate cancer treatments.

If you have had a diagnosis of cancer before (primary cancer), the cancer may come back in another part of your body.

Cancer has already spread from where the cancer started (primary site) when it is first diagnosed.

A cancer has already spread when you are first diagnosed but the doctors are unable to find the primary cancer (or where the cancer started.

With locally advanced cancer, treatment is still aimed at curing the cancer.

Locally advanced means the cancer has grown outside the organ it started in but has not yet spread to other more distant parts of the body.

You may hear terms like ‘bone mets’ or ‘liver mets’. These mean a cancer that has spread to your bone or liver. ‘Mets’ is short for metastasis.