Colon cancer metastasized to liver

Lisa’s father has colon cancer metastasized to liver. Lisa’s father is in pain and stays in bed a lot… In this post we will explain how a colon cancer ’suddenly’ becomes a metastatic liver cancer. We will feat...

Lisa%26rsquo;s father has colon cancer metastasized to liver. Lisa%26rsquo;s father is in pain and stays in bed a lot%26hellip;

In this post we will explain how a colon cancer %26rsquo;suddenly%26rsquo; becomes a metastatic liver cancer.

We will feature Lisa%26rsquo;s comment at One caregiver is never enough! Patrick%26rsquo;s father has metastatic liver cancer in our next post. There you will learn that colon cancer chemotherapy isn%26rsquo;t a simple %26#34;1 treatment fits all%26#34; cure.

Colon cancer spreading to liver

Let%26rsquo;s explain in simple terms how and why a colon cancer spreads to the liver. Below we will also explain in more medical terms the above blue %26lsquo;colon cancer metastasized to liver%26rsquo; picture.

Think of your organs as well enclosed countries like China once was well enclosed with the great wall. Meaning nobody can get in or out unless through the normal trade routes or by breaking a hole in the wall. Your colon, liver, pancreas, lungs are all such well enclosed countries.

Now you also know that you can travel from one country to another by highways or secondary roads. The highways and roads in our body are the blood vessels and the lymph canals.

Suppose you have a colon with all it%26rsquo;s normal citizens and one villain: a colon cancer. All other organs don%26rsquo;t have a clue and can%26rsquo;t be bothered what%26rsquo;s happening in the colon. It%26rsquo;s up to the internal security of the colon to deal with it%26rsquo;s villain.

But what happens when the colon can%26rsquo;t keep the villain - colon cancer- inside? What happens when your colon cancer breaks out of the colon and fled away on the roads of your blood vessels or lymph canals?

Think of it that your colon cancer now becomes an international terrorist on the loose. Your colon cancer can strike anywhere he can get using your blood vessels or lymph nodes%26hellip;

• When your colon cancer hitches a hike on your blood vessels, sooner or later he will arrive in the liver, as the liver is supposed to be cleaning all your blood in your body.
  
• When your colon cancer hitches a hike on your lymph canals, sooner or later he needs to pass the %26#34;customs%26#34; that are positioned in the lymph nodes. That%26rsquo;s why you will hear that a cancer has %26#34;already traveled to the lymph nodes%26#34;.

A so called stage 4 colon cancer is a colon cancer that has traveled outside the colon and has settled down already in another organ: usually

• the liver that cleans the blood or
  
• the lungs that add oxygen to the blood.

Metastatic liver cancer with unknown primary

Father was diagnosed with %26#34;metastatic liver cancer with unknown primary%26#34;. This means that a cancer is found in his liver, but it is not a %26#34;local liver cancer%26#34;. After the biopsy it is clear this cancer is not a liver cancer citizen.

Unfortunately the biopsy cannot explain where the cancer is coming from. Just like some people in Russia looks very Chinese but others look very Caucasian%26hellip; you just cannot pinpoint exactly where they come from.

Not knowing where the cancer comes from makes you wonder: do we give father a breast cancer treatment, a lung cancer treatment (he had been smoking), a prostate cancer treatment or even a mesothelioma treatment (father did come in contact with asbestos when he was much younger%26hellip;)?

Since we don%26rsquo;t know which one to choose, we have to give a chemotherapy that is successful for all the above treatments. In father%26rsquo;s case that meant such a poisonous chemotherapy cocktail that would have killed him faster than the cancer could%26hellip;

Colon cancer metastasized to liver in medical terms

Cancer and tumors aren%26rsquo;t citizens, but cells, so the above story has to be done on a molecular level.

The process of colon cancer spreading to the liver metastasis is a dynamic process which requires the appropriate molecular machinery to allow a tumor cell to:

• proliferate in the colon (grow or increase rapidly),
  
• establish its own blood supply,
  
• invade into surrounding tissues,
  
• be released into the circulation,
  
• adhere to the blood vessels of the liver,
  
• invade into the liver (invasion),
  
• proliferate and
  
• acquire its own blood supply ( angiogenesis ).

This complex process requires that the tumor cell interact with the microenvironment of the liver such that the tumor cell can utilize the growth factors and blood vessels of the liver in order to grow.

As soon as that has happened, the medical world will call it a stage 4 colon cancer or since it reached the liver: a colon cancer metastasized to liver.

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