Getting the Medical Name of Your Cancer

Appropriate treatment for cancer depends on what kind of cancer you have. The type of cancer is determined by the organ the cancer starts in, the kind of cell from which it is derived, as well the appearance of the cancer cells.

Cancer begins when a cell begins dividing uncontrollably. Eventually these cells form a visible mass or tumor. This initial tumor is called the "primary" tumor. Cells from the primary tumor can break off and lodge elsewhere in the body where they then grow into secondary tumors. This process is called "metastasis" and a cancer which has spread to other organs is called "metastatic." When cancer spreads to another organ, the type of cancer remains the type of the primary tumor. Thus cancer that started in the colon and spread to the liver is still colon cancer. It is not "liver cancer". Similarly breast cancer that has spread to the bone is not "bone cancer", it is metastatic breast cancer.

Often, several different kinds of cancer can start in the same organ. For instance, kidney cancers include renal cell cancer, the most common kidney cancer, Wilm's tumor, which usually affects children, and transitional cell cancer, which is similar to bladder cancer. The treatment of these three kinds of kidney cancer is completely different. So you can see that it would be difficult to research the options for kidney cancer unless you know what kind you have. To find out what kind of cancer you have, the easiest thing is to ask your doctor, but the diagnosis will also be on most medical reports pertaining to your case.

Some people who write me request help with such cancers as "carcinoma", "adenocarcinoma" or, "sarcoma". These are actually very broad classes of cancer cell types, rather than particular cancers, and are not nearly specific enough to allow one to research treatment. Sarcomas are cancers of the connective tissue, cartilage, bone, muscle, and so on. Carcinomas are cancers of epithelial (lining) cells. Adenocarcinoma refers to carcinoma derived from cells of glandular origin. One can, for instance, have an adenocarcinoma of the pancreas, or an adenocarcinoma of the lung. These are very different cancers.