shinbo
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Posts:20
Hello everyone,
This is a question that I've been thinking about for a while and I was wondering if the forum here can provide some input.
In Stage IV lung cancer where the cancer has already metastasized , can radiating or treating some tumors make the cancer spread even more? Like for example if a person has a few tumors in different parts of the body and having every single spot cyberknifed and those tumors are now inactive/dead, can it spread even more than before since the original place for it to grow is now destroyed kind of like a Hydra you take down one but two grows in its place, sorry for the lack of a better example
thank you
Forums
Reply # - December 9, 2012, 04:41 PM
Reply To: Is lung cancer likely to spread if lung tumors are
No, there isn't any evidence that cancer metastasizes due to radiating or otherwise treating other metastases.
Reply # - December 9, 2012, 09:01 PM
Reply To: Is lung cancer likely to spread if lung tumors are
Right. The idea isn't that the local therapy accelerates the spread of the cancer, but rather that local therapy doesn't help in any appreciable way, so the trajectory of metastatic spread is the same as what it would be without the local therapy.
-Dr. West