# Metastasis

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/metastasis/  
OnCo record `metastasis` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Cancer that has spread from where it started to distant parts of the body, travelling through the blood or lymph. Metastasis is why staging scans look at the whole body, and the setting in which most new cancer drugs are approved first.

## Summary

To metastasise, a cell must break away from the primary, invade through tissue into a blood or lymph vessel, survive the journey, exit at a distant organ, and grow there; each step is inefficient, yet enough cells succeed that around ninety percent of cancer deaths are due to metastases rather than the primary. Common destinations depend on the cancer (bone for prostate and breast, liver for colorectal, brain for lung and melanoma). Metastatic cancer is stage IV and is usually treated with systemic therapy rather than surgery, aiming at long control rather than cure, though a few sites (limited liver metastases in colorectal cancer, oligometastatic disease) can still be treated with curative intent.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: metastases; metastatic; metastasise; metastasize; metastasised; metastasized; metastasising; metastasizing; distant spread; spread to; secondary cancer; secondary cancers; stage IV; stage 4; advanced cancer; advanced disease; metastatic disease; advanced cancers

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metastasis
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metastasis

## Connected records

- terms: [Benign versus malignant](https://onco.cc/terms/benign-vs-malignant/), [Disseminated tumour cells (DTCs)](https://onco.cc/terms/disseminated-tumor-cells/), [Hallmark: activating invasion and metastasis](https://onco.cc/terms/activating-invasion-metastasis/), [Invasive](https://onco.cc/terms/invasive-cancer/), [Lymph node](https://onco.cc/terms/lymph-node/), [Oligometastatic disease](https://onco.cc/terms/oligometastatic/), [Palliative](https://onco.cc/terms/palliative-treatment/), [Primary tumour](https://onco.cc/terms/primary-tumour/), [Seed and soil hypothesis of metastasis (Paget)](https://onco.cc/terms/seed-and-soil-hypothesis/), [Stage](https://onco.cc/terms/cancer-stage/), [Systemic versus local therapy](https://onco.cc/terms/systemic-vs-local-therapy/), [What is not a second cancer: recurrence, metastasis and field cancerisation](https://onco.cc/terms/rejuv-second-what-is-not-a-second-cancer/)
- pathways: [The metastatic cascade](https://onco.cc/pathways/metastatic-cascade/), [Theories of cancer: how the ideas connect](https://onco.cc/pathways/theories-of-cancer/), [Tumour dormancy](https://onco.cc/pathways/tumor-dormancy/)
- key papers: [Kalluri and Weinberg 2009: the basics of epithelial-mesenchymal transition](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-kalluri-weinberg-emt-basics-jci-2009/), [Lamouille 2014: molecular mechanisms of epithelial-mesenchymal transition](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-lamouille-emt-molecular-mechanisms-nrmcb-2014/), [Mani 2008: the epithelial-mesenchymal transition generates cells with properties of stem cells](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-mani-emt-stem-cell-properties-cell-2008/), [Quail and Joyce 2013: microenvironmental regulation of tumour progression and metastasis](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-quail-joyce-microenvironment-metastasis-natmed-2013/), [Thiery 2002: epithelial-mesenchymal transitions in tumour progression](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-thiery-emt-tumour-progression-nrc-2002/)
- journals: [Cancer letters](https://onco.cc/journals/cancer-letters/), [Cancer metastasis reviews](https://onco.cc/journals/cancer-metastasis-reviews/), [Clinical & experimental metastasis](https://onco.cc/journals/clinical-and-experimental-metastasis/), [Oncogene](https://onco.cc/journals/oncogene-journal/), [Oncology reports](https://onco.cc/journals/oncology-reports/)
- cancers: [Metastatic cancer (cancer that has spread)](https://onco.cc/cancers/metastatic-cancer/), [Metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/metastatic-pdac/), [Pancreatoblastoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/pancreatoblastoma/)
- trials: [Phase III Clinical Study of VC004 in Patients With Localized Advanced/ Metastatic Solid Tumors](https://onco.cc/trials/nct06658353/)

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