Initial and Later Stages of Cancer

Initial Stages

The cancer may start with just one or a few cells somewhere in the body that undergo a change and become malignant, or cancerous. The cells divide and reproduce themselves, and the cancer grows.

Most cancers arise on the surface of a tissue, such as the skin, the lining of the uterus, mouth, stomach, bowel, bladder, or bronchial tube in the lung, or inside a duct in the breast, prostate gland, or other site. Eventually, they grow from a microscopic clump to a visible mass, then begin to invade underlying tissues. As long as the cells remain in one mass, however, the cancer is localized.

Later Stages

At some later phase, in a process called metastasis, some of the cancer cells split off and are swept into the lymph channels or bloodstream to other parts of the body. They may be captured for a while in a nearby lymph node ( a stage called regional involvement), but unless the disease is arrested, it will rapidly invade the rest of the body, with death the almost certain result. Some cancers grow with a malevolent rapidity; some are dormant by comparison. Some respond to various therapies, such as radiation therapy; others do not.

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