Secondary Peritoneal Cancer

If I Am Diagnosed With Secondary Peritoneal Cancer What Is My Prognosis?

Secondary peritoneal cancer, unlike the normal form of peritoneal cancer has a known cause. The disease is caused when another cancer spreads to different areas of the body. The patient may have had a good prognosis when he was initially diagnosed with the cancer, but getting a diagnosis of secondary peritoneal cancer reduces his chances of survival. The prognosis for secondary peritoneal cancer is not good, although the treatment for it will remain the same as other types of cancers. As long as the cancer is operable, an oncologist will recommend surgery followed by chemotherapy. If either tumor is inoperable, the doctor may recommend radiation treatments combined with chemotherapy as a form of treatment.

Although the prognosis for secondary peritoneal cancer is generally not good, the disease does have a survival rate. The prognosis for a patient with secondary peritoneal cancer depends on the ability to cure the primary cancer. If the primary cancer can be removed and cured, it is possible for a doctor to remove the remaining cancel cells and improve the health of the rest of the body. Secondary peritoneal cancer and any form of secondary cancer have a low survival rate because it usually means the cancer was not spotted early enough to begin an effective treatment course. The treatment chosen for a secondary peritoneal cancer depends on where the original cancer originated.

For example, lung cancer patients will receive treatment for long cancer, breast cancer patients will receive treatment for breast cancer. The best course of action is to undergo regular tests to make sure primary cancers are caught early enough so that they can be treated. The best cure for secondary peritoneal cancer is never to get it in the first place. Removing a primary cancer and curing it keeps any additional tumor cells from developing anywhere else in the body.