• Question: How does breast cancer spread around the body?

    Asked by harrydacob to Sharon on 13 Mar 2011 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Sharon Sneddon

      Sharon Sneddon answered on 13 Mar 2011:

      Hi Harrydacob,
      In order to spread, some cells from the primary cancer in the breast must break away, travel to another part of the body and start growing there. Cancer cells do not stick together as well as normal cells. They also may produce substances that stimulate them to move.
      Cancer cells are very crafty little things and they must then slip through the wall of a blood vessel this lets them get into the bloodstream. When it is in the bloodstream, it is swept along by the blood until it gets stuck somewhere, usually in a very small blood vessel called a capillary. Once it gets stuck, it tries to escape so it breaks through the wall of the capillary and into the tissue of the nearest organ. The cancer cells then divide and grow to form a new tumour.

      Cancers that have spread are very hard to treat, but happily, the journey to move around the body is complicated and most cancer cells do not survive it. Probably, out of many thousands of cancer cells that reach the blood circulation only one will survive to form a secondary cancer or metastasis.
      Hope this answers your question!

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