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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Metastasis?

My mom has been diagnosed with cancer due to the metastasis, that start on her overies going to her kidneys, liver, lungs, and brain, but she has no cancer cells. The Dr done a biopsy on the mass on her lungs and told her they couldn't say it was or was not cancer, they had not seen anything like it. How could the dr diagnose her with cancer if there is no cancer cells, and if not cancer what could it be?
posted on Fri, 14 Mar 2014
Twitter Tue, 16 Dec 2014 Answered on
Twitter Tue, 16 Dec 2014 Last reviewed on
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Oncologist, Surgical,  's  Response
A lesion in the ovary that has spread to the lungs, liver, kidneys and brain is in all likelihood a cancer. There are a few tropical infections that can rarely mimic such a picture like tuberculosis, but that would not be my first diagnosis. Also, a needle biopsy from the lung lesion can miss the cancer cells half the time as it is technically difficult. It does not mean that she does not have cancer. There is a simple blood test called CA-125. If that is significantly raised then there is no doubt that your mom has cancer. If it is not raised then you can get a CT guided needle biopsy from the ovarian mass. If that is positive for cancer then you dont need to biopsy the other lesions. They are taken as metastasis based on the radiological picture alone.
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What Causes Metastasis?

A lesion in the ovary that has spread to the lungs, liver, kidneys and brain is in all likelihood a cancer. There are a few tropical infections that can rarely mimic such a picture like tuberculosis, but that would not be my first diagnosis. Also, a needle biopsy from the lung lesion can miss the cancer cells half the time as it is technically difficult. It does not mean that she does not have cancer. There is a simple blood test called CA-125. If that is significantly raised then there is no doubt that your mom has cancer. If it is not raised then you can get a CT guided needle biopsy from the ovarian mass. If that is positive for cancer then you dont need to biopsy the other lesions. They are taken as metastasis based on the radiological picture alone.