Word: spreading
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Most doctors classify colorectal cancers according to a scale developed by an English pathologist named Cuthbert Dukes in the 1930s. The Dukes scale uses the letter A to describe a malignant tumor that is confined to the colon's inner lining, B to characterize one that has spread beyond the inner lining but has not reached the lymph nodes, and C for one that has pierced the outer wall or begun to spread to the lymph nodes. Doctors also use these classifications to estimate patients' chances of survival. Patients with Dukes A tumors have a 90% chance of surviving five...
Pathologists examining the polyp had discovered that it was cancerous and that the malignancy had grown through the connective tissue under the colon's inner lining into the layer of muscle that helps the colon contract. Yet their tests suggested that none of the malignant cells had spread beyond the intestine. Thus it was likely, though not certain, that in removing the 2-ft. section of Reagan's colon that contained the polyp, the surgical team had freed the President of cancer...
...other reasons for an optimistic prognosis. Rosenberg reported that the malignant cells found in the presidential polyp were moderately well differentiated, suggesting that they are of a fairly slow-growing variety. It was also encouraging, he said, that physicians had found no evidence that the President's cancer had spread beyond the section of the bowel removed during surgery. It was particularly significant that no malignant cells were found in the 15 lymph nodes in the excised section of the colon. These bean-shape structures act to screen the lymph, a watery fluid drained from between the body's cells...
Reagan's doctors acknowledged that some cancer cells may have spread from the President's colon and could seed new tumors. Unfortunately, there is little that can be done to prevent them from seeding. Radiotherapy, or X-ray treatment, which sometimes works well to prevent recurrences of breast or lung cancers, has not generally proved effective against recurring cancers of the colon. And chemotherapy, or drug treatment, which works well against leukemia and cancers of the lymphatic system, will not help. "Currently available information is that chemotherapy does not improve survival" for colorectal cancer patients, Rosenberg said...
...surprise. The violence in recent weeks has bred more violence. Almost every day has seen reports of townships in upheaval, and bloody confrontations between blacks and armed police have become chillingly routine. Last week, as the total number of black deaths since September passed 450, the political brush fires spread to a place with an ominously familiar name: Soweto...