The way we classify metastatic cancers may need to be revamped, scientists have said, proposing in its place a classification system that places the molecular characteristics of the cancer over the tissue of origin.
Traditional approaches to treating cancer – including surgery and radiation – target the organs in which the tumour is present. This practice formed the basis of classifying cancers after the organ in which they originate. But most deaths due to cancer are the result of the disease metastasising beyond the organ of origin; individuals with metastatic cancer are almost always treated systemically with drugs that enter the blood.
