How Radiotherapy Is Used To Treat Secondary Cancer

The private cancer treatment we offer is always geared toward the needs of the individual, which goes beyond simply offering various approaches for different types of cancer.

Everybody is different due to factors such as age, genetics and family history. This can mean the way cancer manifests in one patient has some differences to that of another who has the same essential diagnosis. At the same time, you may want to have a significant say in treatment options, and your choices could be different from others.

An area of significant variation between patients is the area of secondary cancer. Primary cancer is defined as the initial location where the cancer begins. For example, breast cancer can begin in tissue in the mammary glands, brain cancer in a tumour in part of the brain and so on.

If it is diagnosed early, there is often a very good prospect of treating the cancer early before it can spread and ensuring the patient is cancer-free. This may depend on the kind of cancer it is and its location.

Secondary Cancer Defined

However, what can also happen is the cancer spreads to other areas of the body. The technical term for this is metastasis, commonly known as secondary cancer.

What this means is that cancer is now present beyond the original area where it began, even if it is no longer present in its original site. One one of the most obvious examples of this is breast cancer, which may be present in other parts of the body even after a mastectomy, due to it spreading before the operation took place.

It is important to note there is a distinction between secondary cancer – where the initial cancer has spread – and second primary cancer, which is when a patient has two cancers in different parts of the body that are independent of each other.

The reason this distinction is important is that in secondary cancer, the cancerous cells are of the same kind wherever they are found, so a lung cancer cell is still that if, for example, it spreads to the brain. If the patient was also suffering from brain cancer, that would be a second primary cancer.

Furthermore, there is a kind of secondary cancer that is classed as being of unknown primary, which means metastasis has taken place, but the place of origin has not been established. This is uncommon and only accounts for around two per cent of cancers diagnosed each year.

Treatment Options For Secondary Cancer

Radiotherapy is commonly used to treat secondary cancers alongside other forms of treatment. The treatments that are used may vary depending on what kind of secondary cancer is present, alongside other medical factors such as age and broader health.

For example, secondary bone cancer may be treated in several ways, which include radiotherapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and certain targeted drugs. In secondary breast cancer, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormonal therapy may also be used, as well as bone-strengthening drugs if the cancer has spread to the bones.

Some kinds of secondary cancer can be treated in a large number of ways. For instance, secondary liver cancer can be treated with radiotherapy, chemotherapy and hormonal therapy, but also surgery, tumour ablation, embolisation and targeted therapy.

These options will depend on the kind of cancer present. For instance, with liver cancer, surgery is only an option in a small number of cases, usually secondary bowel cancer or neuroendocrine tumours.

By its very nature, secondary cancer is a very broad topic area, as it covers many different primary cancer types, each of which may spread to multiple areas of the body, with various effects and different implications for treatment.

For example, if a cancer spreads to the brain from elsewhere in the body, the way radiotherapy is used will often be different to a situation where another area is affected. Because of the need to protect brain tissue from radiation exposure as much as possible, stereotactic radiosurgery will often be the best treatment option.

Keeping Treatment Individual

Because there are so many ways in which secondary cancer can manifest itself and such a variety of treatment options that are contingent on many different factors, there will never be a one-size-fits-all approach.

For that reason, if you have secondary cancer, you will be kept well-informed and advised about everything that is understood about your condition and will be able to play a full collaborative role in making decisions about your treatment.

As an individual whose medical situation will be different to anyone else’s, we will always aim at the best course for you in accordance with your wishes.