How do doctors determine what stage cancer is in and how long a patient has to live?
In: 99
Lots of good explanation here but let me attempt a eli5 version:
Cancer starts as something very small and grows to something bigger. Imagine it starting as a pea size and becoming fist size. When it becomes fist sized, it can go to nearby places due to it just touching other things.
Once it travels to 1 nearby organs, that is when it can start traveling to everywhere. At this point, there’a data on how long a person can live based on what has happened.
To circle back:
Early stage: Still small and hasn’t traveled anywhere. Depending on where it is located, you can possibly remove it and be okay.
Late stage: It has traveled away from where it started. Survival is very low. Doctors look at similar situations on past to predict how long a patient can live.
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