Study Highlights Danger of Spreading Cancer

Cho Seong-ja had surgery after being diagnosed with second-phase breast cancer four years ago. She seemed to get better after receiving a series of radiation treatments and hormone therapy.

Three months later, however, she felt a sudden pain in her waist and right arm. At first, Cho, 68, did not think it was serious and that the pain stemmed from lack of exercise during her cancer treatment.

She got acupuncture several times but her pain persisted. She went to the hospital again and found out that cancer cells had spread to her bones.

Doctor said she should have come to the hospital right away after feeling pain in her right arm.

Cho is now getting radiation treatment. “I never thought that cancer would spread to my bones” she said with a gloomy face.

The spread of cancer is the biggest worry for patients suffering from the disease. But they have little information on the types of cancer that frequently spread to other organs and the most vulnerable targets.

The number of cancer patients like Cho who suffer from cancer spreading in their bodies is not small.

The Dong-A Ilbo and Samsung Medical Center have developed the first “cancer spread map” based on a 12-year study of 87,122 cancer patients treated in the hospital for the most common cancers in Korea: stomach, liver, lung, breast, cervical, colon and prostatic. The map shows tissues and organs that cancer can spread to.

According to the map, stomach cancer usually spreads to the peritoneum and prostatic cancer spreads to the bones. Likewise, each cancer has a spread pattern. Stomach cancer easily spreads to other organs located close to cancer cells.

Of the cancer patients studied, 75.8 percent or 66,002 did not show spread of cancer cells to other tissues and organs, but 24.2 percent or 21,120 patients did.

Among the seven major cancers in Korea, colon cancer has the highest chance of spreading (34.7 percent) and prostatic cancer the lowest chance.

Other types of cancer with a high chance of spreading were lung (20.9 percent), bone (20.7 percent) and liver (19.8 percent). Prostatic, esophagus and pancreas cancer had the lowest chance of spreading.

corekim@donga.com