How fast can cancer spread without treatment?


Cancer growth is measured in

Submitted by Ross Bonander on Sat, 2010-08-21 13:18.

Cancer growth is measured in terms of 'doubling times', or how quickly a tumor can double in size. You start with a single malignant cell mutation, which, dividing through mitosis becomes two such cells, then four, then eight, etc. A few cancers have short doubling times, as short as a week, while others may take six months or more. The fastest growing tumor known to science is found in Burkitt's lymphoma. The aggressiveness of a certain cancer can be determined, to some degree, by specialized pathologists.

As for spreading, or metastasis, that is not easy to measure because cancer begins in one spot, and as that tumor grows, cells from it break off and migrate to other parts of the body. These cells wind up in other parts of the body, and while in most cases they simply die, in other cases, they take root and begin to grow a tumor.

Ross

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Ross

 

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