Patient's question:
I heard that pelvic cancer metastasis is very terrible, and I want to know how pelvic cancer metastasizes?Doctor's answer:
hematogenous metastasis, where cancer cells detach and enter blood vessels, subsequently traveling to other parts of the body to continue growing. Tumor cells entering the vasculature often clump together with fibrin and platelets, forming a tumor embolus. The pathways of hematogenous metastasis are the same as those of embolus circulation. Tumor cells entering the systemic venous circulation travel through the right heart to the lungs, where they form metastatic tumors, such as the pulmonary metastasis of choriocarcinoma. Tumor cells invading the portal venous system first metastasize to the liver, such as liver metastasis from gastric or intestinal cancer. Tumor cells entering the pulmonary veins or those from pulmonary metastatic tumors that enter the pulmonary veins through pulmonary capillaries can travel through the left heart and into the systemic circulation via the aorta, commonly metastasizing to the brain, bones, kidneys, and adrenal glands. Tumor cells invading veins that have anastomoses with the vertebral venous plexus can cause spinal and intracranial metastasis.