From breast to bone

CANCER cells are a trouble-making lot. When they are not satisfied with the damage they've caused in one part of the body, they break away from the primary tumour and travel to other parts of the body through the bloodstream. They may set up shop in the brain, lungs, liver or bones, where they multiply and eventually form another tumour.  

Of these distant sites, bones are the most common area where cancer cells will settle, says Dr Gurcharan Singh Khera, President of the Malaysian Oncological Society. This causes a recurrence of the cancer in the bones, known as bone metastasis, or “bone mets”.