Cancer of Unknown Primary

Overview

Cancer starts when cells in the body begin to grow out of control. Cells in nearly any part of the body can become cancer, and can spread from their primary site (the part of the body where the cancer started), to one or more metastatic sites (other parts of the body).

Sometimes it’s not clear where a cancer may have started. When cancer is found in one or more metastatic sites but the primary site cannot be determined, it is called Unknown Primary Cancer or Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP).

This term is used to define a heterogeneous group of patients that represents up to 5% of histologically confirmed carcinomas in which a primary tumor is detected, so the prevalence is actually much higher (historically only is defined carcinoma as unknown source if that source is behind conducting an autopsy, which is not always done).

Risk Factors

Since the exact type of cancer is not known, it’s hard to identify factors that might affect risk for cancer of unknown primary. Furthermore, these cancers are also a very diverse group, making this issue even more complicated. But there are some risk factors associated with the part of the body where Cancer of Unknown Primary had found to have started.

Risk factors for Cancer of Unknown Primary include:

  • Smoking is probably the most important risk factor for Cancer of Unknown Primary (more than half of patients with Cancer of Unknown Primary have a history of smoking). Besides, when autopsy studies are done, many Cancer of Unknown Primary are found to have started in the pancreas, lungs, kidneys, throat, larynx or oesophagus, for which smoking increases the risk of having cancer.
  • Diet, nutrition, and weight are factors that also have been linked to Cancer of Unknown Primary because some of them are eventually found to have started in the stomach, colon, rectum, or ovaries.
  • Exposure to ultraviolet radiation in sunlight may be another source of Cancer of Unknown Primary, because is high linked to Melanoma, an aggressive type of skin cancer.

Signs and Symptoms

The signs and symptoms of a cancer of unknown primary vary depending on which organs it has spread to. It’s important to note that none of the symptoms listed below is caused only by Cancer of Unknown Primary. In fact, they are more likely to be caused by something other than cancer.

Signs and symptoms of Cancer of Unknown Primary may include:

  • Swollen, firm, non-tender lymph nodes
  • Masses in the abdomen that can be felt or a feeling of “fullness”
  • Weakness, fatigue or shortness of breath
  • Pain in the chest or abdomen
  • Bone pain
  • Low red blood cell counts (anemia)
  • Poor appetite
  • Weight loss

Prognosis

The prognosis for patients with CUP is poor. As a group, the median survival is approximately 3 to 4 months with less than 25% and 10% of patients alive at 1 and 5 years, respectively. CUP is represented by a heterogeneous group of diseases all of which have presented with metastasis as the primary manifestation. Although the majority of diseases are relatively refractory to systemic treatments, certain clinical presentations of CUP carry a much better prognosis. In each instance, distinct clinical and pathologic details require consideration for appropriate, potentially curative, management. Although only a minority of patients will have curable disease or a disease for which there is substantial palliative benefit, the appropriate use of special diagnostic pathology and selected radiologic studies will identify patients for whom directed therapy will provide the best possible chance for response.

Cancer of Unknown Primary Diagnosis

PLEASE NOTE: EARLY DIAGNOSIS IN CANCER IS VERY IMPORTANT BECAUSE CANCER THAT’S DIAGNOSED AT AN EARLY STAGE ―BEFORE IT’S HAD THE CHANCE TO GET TOO BIG OR SPREAD―, IS MORE LIKELY TO BE TREATED SUCCESSFULLY. IF THE CANCER HAS SPREAD, TREATMENT BECOMES MORE DIFFICULT, AND GENERALLY A PERSON’S CHANCES OF SURVIVING ARE MUCH LOWER.

State of the Art

Current studies argue that to define a carcinoma as Cancer of Unknown Primary requires the patient to present a histologically documented metastatic cancer, that is, a detailed health record with a thorough physical examination including: pelvic and rectal exams; a blood test with complete biochemistry; an urinalysis; a test for fecal occult blood; a review of the biopsy using immunohistochemistry; a chest radiography and an abdominal CT scan and/or a mammography, as appropriate.

All these diagnostic tests and complementary examinations to which will be submitted to the patient, are intended to determining the primary tumor to be treated in the most suitable way, something that unfortunately won’t be achieved in most cases, which results in high stress levels, as well a very substantial economic costs.

For this reason, in most cases the number of scans are limited to those that can provide a clinical benefit to the patient, because currently, the treatment of patients with Carcinoma of Unknown Origin has a very poor prognosis and provides meager profits, what recommends to focus all effors in determine which chemotherapy scheme can provide the maximum benefit with minimal toxicity.

Diagnosis Revolution

Here is where our solution can help by being an innovative, non-invasive, accurate, and cost-effective diagnosis solution, based in a simple blood test that can detect Unknown Primary Cancer with 82.4% of sensibility and 98.1% of specificity, while reduces ―in a very significantly way―, the number of false positives (FP) and false negatives (FN) typical of other diagnosis procedures.

Its aim is to help the differential diagnosis of suspected locally advanced tumor or CUP, distinguishing cases without neoplasia of malignant tumors noninvasively, quickly and at low cost. This leads to a reduction average hospital stay (cost 600 Euro/Day) and the necessary tests, with a diminution also morbidity for the patient.

Moreover, in cases with neoplasia, our MBDAA for Unknwon Primary Dx test orients the possible origin of the tumor by more than 60% of cases. Knowing the origin of the tumor can facilitate diagnosis and therapy to be applied not as generic, but specific to the tumor in question.

If do you want to read more about OncoCUP Dx, our Multiple Biomarkers Disease Activity Algorithms (MBDAAs) for an innovative, non-invasive, accurate, and cost-effective Cancer Unknown Primary diagnostics, confirmation, as well as identification of the primary site among 30 possible primary sites, please click on next button:

 

OncoCUP Dx