You needn't understand every bit of the detailed information below to get this information. All you need to do to is to ask your doctor for the medical name of your cancer, the stage of your tumor which will be a roman numeral I-IV or recurrent, and maybe the grade. The information below will help your research by giving you some basic background. Getting the Medical Name of Your Cancer Appropriate treatment for cancer depends on what kind of cancer you have. The type of cancer is determined by the organ the cancer starts in, the kind of cell from which it is derived, as well the appearance of the cancer cells.
Cancer begins when a cell begins dividing uncontrollably.
Eventually these cells form a visible mass or tumor. Cells from the primary tumor can break off and form secondary tumors elsewhere in the body. When cancer spreads to another organ the type of cancer remains the type of the primary tumor. Thus cancer that started in the colon and spread to the liver is still colon cancer. Often, several different kinds of cancer can start in the same organ.