Metastasis is the spread of cancer cells from the original tumor to other parts of the body. It’s how most cancers become deadly, so it’s important to understand how metastasis happens and what you can do to prevent it.
When a cell becomes cancerous, it undergoes changes that allow it to break away from its usual location in the body and travel through your blood system or lymphatic system until it lands in a different part of your body. There, it starts growing into a new tumor, which can cause problems all on its own or make existing health issues worse.
The most common types of cancer that spread through the lymphatic system are breast cancer, lung cancer, and melanoma, but this can happen with many different types of tumors if they’re able to break free from where they started.