Wednesday, August 4, 2010

if prostate cancer has reached back bones and now lungs...what is stage of cancer

if prostate cancer has reached back bones and now lungs...what is stage of cancer?
a dear friend was admitted to hospital with severe back pain...just discovered he has prostate cancer which has now gone into bones and lungs...at what stage could this cancer be???
Cancer - 3 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :

1 :
I hate to tell you this, but it's obviously in its final stages. When cancer metasticizes and spreads to vital organs, it's pretty much over soon.
2 :
It is a stage 4.
3 :
Once a cancer leaves the primary location and spreads new cancer cells to a different area in the body . . it is called metastatic cancer. This is considered advanced cancer or stage IV cancer. Staging is for the benefit of the patient to determine how to proceed with treatment. It is not a death sentence . . or a 'final stage' . . it is a stage. Advanced cancer needs to be treated more aggressively than an early stage or stage 1 cancer. In general there are different types of staging depending on the type of cancer you have . .but generally there are four treatment stages. Cancer is a progressive disease which means it starts out tiny and begins to grow . . the smaller the cancer than the lower the stage . . as the cancer grows it may invade local tissue or begin new tumors in the same location . . this would be stage 2 or stage 3 cancer . . . when a cancer reaches stage 4 it means that the cancer is usually large, there may be more than one, and the tumor has shed hundreds of microscopic malignant cells into the blood stream and sent them to a new location where a new colony of cancer starts. That is called metastasis or stage IV cancer. Because your friends cancer started in the prostate and has now metastasized to the bone and through the blood stream into the lung . . he is considered a stage IV. This is not impossible to treat, but it will be more difficult.

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