Metastatic Cancer: How Cancer Spreads

Cancer is named by the place where it began — prostate cancer is in the prostate gland and melanoma affects melanocytes (cells that help produce the pigment responsible for skin color). If the cancer spreads to another part of the body, it can be referred to as secondary or metastasized, cancer. Despite being present in a new area of the body, metastasized cancer keeps the name of the primary cancer because the cancerous cells from both locations remain identical. For example, prostate cancer that spreads to the liver would be called metastasized prostate cancer.