Turtle cancers versus bird cancers

Not all cancer cells spread at the same rate, I learned recently, but understanding the difference could help save untold amounts of money and suffering.
There are cancers that metastasize at the speed of turtles crawling, others at the speed of birds flying and some at the speed of bears running.
That analogy came from Barry Kramer, a leading oncologist and editor in chief of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, during a conference on medical reporting last week that I attended last week.
The cancer cells that spread as fast as birds are difficult to treat because the cancer has typically started to infect other parts of the body than where it had started by the time it’s detected.
The cancer cells that spread as fast as turtles aren’t nearly as dangerous and don’t need to be treated as intensely as others.
A great deal of resources, money and patient suffering could be spared if cancer doctors could spot the difference between bird cancers, bear cancers and turtle cancers.
If doctors could spot the different cancers they could adjust their treatment accordingly rather than do everything necessary to kill all cancer they see right then, Kramer said.
He added the problem for patients, oncologists and cancer researchers is that people are hesitant to stop and research the difference in how cancers spread. Doing so may endanger the safety of those receiving life-saving cancer therapies.