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Cancer
Cancer begins when a cell begins dividing uncontrollably. Eventually
these cells form a visible mass or tumor. This initial tumor is called
the "primary" tumor. Cells from the primary tumor can break off and lodge
elsewhere in the body where they then grow into secondary tumors. This
process is called "metastasis" and a cancer which has spread to other
organs is called "metastatic." When cancer spreads to another organ,
the type of cancer remains the type of the primary tumor. Thus cancer that
started in the colon and spread to the liver is still colon cancer. It
is not "liver cancer". Similarly breast cancer that has spread to the
bone is not "bone cancer", it is metastatic breast cancer.
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