What is an Oligometastases?
What is an Oligometastases?
(AH-lih-goh-meh-TAS-tuh-sis) A type of metastasis in which cancer cells from the original (primary) tumor travel through the body and form a small number of new tumors (metastatic tumors) in one or two other parts of the body.
What is meant by the term metastasis?
Listen to pronunciation. (meh-TAS-tuh-sis) The spread of cancer cells from the place where they first formed to another part of the body. In metastasis, cancer cells break away from the original (primary) tumor, travel through the blood or lymph system, and form a new tumor in other organs or tissues of the body.
What is oligo recurrence?
Oligo-recurrence is the state in which cancer patients have metachronous metastases after curative therapy for primary lesions. At recurrence, the cancer patients have no relapse of the primary lesions. This is very important with respect to local therapy.
How can you prevent metastasis?
Another strategy to prevent metastasis is by blocking the development of pre-metastatic niches or targeting the cells and molecules that help disseminated tumor cells survive and grow.
What is the process of metastasis?
Metastasis is a multi-step process encompassing the (i) local infiltration of tumor cells into the adjacent tissue, (ii) transendothelial migration of cancer cells into vessels known as intravasation, (iii) survival in the circulatory system, (iv) extravasation and (v) subsequent proliferation in competent organs …
Can a tumor grow overnight?
They emerge at night, while we sleep unaware, growing and spreading out as quickly as they can. And they are deadly. In a surprise finding that was recently published in Nature Communications, Weizmann Institute of Science researchers showed that nighttime is the right time for cancer to grow and spread in the body.
What triggers metastasis?
Metastases most commonly develop when cancer cells break away from the main tumor and enter the bloodstream or lymphatic system. These systems carry fluids around the body.
What is the first step in metastasis?
When did the concept of oligometastases come about?
Original concept of oligometastases Hellman and Weichselbaum originally proposed the state of oligometastases in 1995 based on a consideration of the multistep nature of cancer progression. They proposed the existence of an oligometastatic state that was an “intermediate between purely localized lesions and those widely metastatic”.
What does oligometastatic cancer mean in clinical terms?
Clinical reports of limited and treatable cancer metastases, a disease state that exists in a transitional zone between localized and widespread systemic disease, were noted on occasion historically and are now termed oligometastasis.
Which is the best treatment for oligometastatic disease?
It is hypothesized that oligometastatic disease represents a state of potentially curable, limited metastases. Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is an option for patients who are not amenable to or do not want resection.
How does local control of oligometastases yield improved systemic control?
Thus, local control (LC) of oligometastases may yield improved systemic control. An alternative hypothesis is that oligometastatic disease represents a clinical manifestation of few detectable lesions in the setting of widespread occult disease. Such a model argues that local therapy alone probably would not be curative.