Open AccessMetastases with definitive pathological diagnosis but no detectable primary tumor: A surveillance epidemiology and end results‐based study
Author(s) -
Tao Lianyuan,
Yu Haibo,
Dong Yadong,
Tian Guanjing,
Ren Zhiyuan,
Li Deyu
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
cancer medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.403
H-Index - 53
ISSN - 2045-7634
DOI - 10.1002/cam4.2496
Subject(s) - medicine , pathological , epidemiology , metastasis , primary tumor , stage (stratigraphy) , surveillance, epidemiology, and end results , lymph node , oncology , cancer , surgery , pathology , biology , cancer registry , paleontology
Background This study investigates the characteristics of a special type of cancer of unknown primary site (CUP, type 2), which is a metastasis of a definite pathological diagnosis without a detectable primary site. Patients and methods Patients diagnosed between 2004 and 2014 were identified from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database. The characteristics of type 2 CUP from different sources were analyzed. For each source of type 2 CUP, tumors of the corresponding T n N 0‐X M 1 stage were used as controls. Results A total of 8505 patients with type 2 CUP were included in this analysis. Type 2 CUP shows an increasing trend, while type 1 shows the opposite. Type 2 CUPs have significant differences with stage IV of the same pathological primary lesion. Many characteristics influenced the prognosis of type 2 CUP patients, including marital status, age, race, sex, registration time, lymph node metastasis, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Conclusion Our study suggests that identifying the source of metastasis is the key to the selection of treatment and the determination of the prognosis for CUP.