How Metastatic Cancer to the Lungs Differs From Primary Lung Cancer

Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prognosis

Metastatic cancer to the lungs means that cancer from another region of the body has spread to the lungs. Another term for metastatic cancer to the lungs is secondary cancer in the lungs, as the primary cancer is the place in the body where cancer began or originated.

For example, if breast cancer spreads to the lungs, it would be called breast cancer with metastasis to the lungs, or breast cancer with lung metastases. It wouldn't be called lung cancer because if you were to look at a metastasic tumor under a microscope, you would see that they are cancerous breast cells, not cancerous lung cells.

As an important aside, if you are looking for information on cancer which begins in the lungs and then spreads to other regions of the body, check out metastatic (stage 4) lung cancer

Verywell / Hilary Allison

Cancers Likely to Metastasize

You may be surprised to learn that lung metastases are quite common. While almost any cancer can spread to the lungs, some are more likely than others to do so. With that, the most common types of cancer that metastasize to the lungs include:

Pulmonary metastases occur also very often in sarcoma, a relatively rare type of cancer. As many as 20% of soft tissue sarcomas and up to 40% of bone sarcomas develop lung metastases.

Occasionally, healthcare providers are unable to determine the primary site of cancer. In this case, they refer to the cancer as a cancer of unknown origin with metastasis to the lungs.

How Cancer Spreads

While normal cells can be thought of as being "sticky," since they have adhesion molecules that keep them in together in place, cancer cells are different. They do not make these adhesion molecules, allowing them to break free and travel as they please.

When traveling, cancer cells may extend directly to the lungs, such as cancers that begin in the esophagus or chest wall. But most cancer cells travel indirectly, through three possible ways:

  • Bloodstream (called hematogenous spread): Cancer cells may "leak" into small blood vessels near the tumors and then be carried to the lungs via the pulmonary arteries.
  • Lymphatics: Tumor cells may leak into the small lymphatic vessels and travel along the lymph pathways (including lymph nodes).
  • Pleural spread and airway spread: The pleura refers to the membranes surrounding the lung. This type of spread is often limited to lung tumors and is much less common.

Symptoms

Lung metastases often do not cause any symptoms. When this is the case, the metastases may be found on a radiological exam, like a CT scan, done to look for the presence of the spread of cancer. 

If symptoms are present, they are often similar to symptoms of primary lung cancer, like:

Since metastatic cancer implies that the primary cancer has spread through the body, general symptoms such as fatigue, unexplained weight loss, and decreased appetite are common as well.

Diagnosis

If your healthcare provider suspects that you have lung metastases, there are several tests she may consider. These include:

  • A chest X-ray (a chest X-ray can easily miss small metastases)
  • CT scan of the chest
  • PET scan 
  • Lung biopsy (either a needle biopsy or open lung biopsy)
  • Analysis of pleural fluid if a pleural effusion is present
  • Bronchoscopy

The results of these imaging studies may provide enough evidence of metastases, although a biopsy may be needed to confirm the diagnosis.

Treatment

Treatment for cancer metastatic to the lungs is usually determined by the primary cancer or origin of the cancer. These treatments may include hormonal therapy, targeted therapies, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or a combination of treatments.

Chemotherapy is often the treatment of choice and is usually given as palliative therapy, which is therapy given to prolong survival and decrease symptoms. Palliative therapy is not intended to cure the cancer. Even so, in rare instances, like with testicular cancer metastatic to the lungs, chemotherapy may be curative. Clinical trials are now in progress studying inhaled chemotherapy, with the hope that delivering chemotherapy directly to the lungs will be effective with fewer side effects.

Occasionally, surgical treatment of lung metastases (called metastasectomy) is considered. In order for this to be effective, your healthcare provider will want to make sure that your primary tumor is completely removed, and that all the metastases are able to be technically resected (surgically taken out). When this is the case, metastasectomy may improve your survival.

In addition to surgery, stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), also referred to by terms such as "cyberknife," is sometimes used to treat metastases to the lungs from cancer in other organs.

Prognosis

Unfortunately, cancer that has spread to the lungs (called stage 4 cancer) is usually not curable. That said, it is often very treatable, and your healthcare provider will talk with you about treatments that may lengthen your life, as well as give you the best quality of life possible.

The survival rate, defined as the percentage of people who live five years or more after their cancer is diagnosed, varies widely depending on the primary tumor. For instance, survival is highest for tumors like testicular cancer that has spread to the lungs (74% five-year survival rate).

The upside here is that it's likely that the prognosis for cancer with lung metastases will improve in the near future. Already some stage 4 cancers have responded to treatments, such as immunotherapy, in ways that were unheard of only a few years ago.

A Word From Verywell

Lung metastases or metastatic cancer to the lung occurs when a cancer that originates in another area of the body, such as the breast or bladder, spreads to the lungs. Most people with lung metastases do not have symptoms, but they may experience a cough, chest pain, or hemoptysis.

Lung metastases are usually treated as part of the therapy regimen for the primary cancer, and while metastatic cancers are not usually curable (there are uncommon exceptions), treatment may both extend life and improve quality of life by controlling symptoms.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Where does lung cancer spread?

    Metastatic lung cancer can spread to any structure or organ in the body, including the brain, liver, lymph nodes, and adrenal glands. It is also known as stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Doctors will check to see where NSCLC has spread using tests and biopsies.

  • What are lung metastatic symptoms?

    Lung metastases symptoms include chest pain, regular coughing, coughing up blood, fluid accumulating around the lungs, reduced appetite, weight loss, and shortness of breath. Depending on the symptoms, certain types of medication can be prescribed to offer relief. For reoccurring shortness of breath, controlled opioids may be prescribed. If these do not work, anti-anxiety drugs may help.

6 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. National Cancer Institute. Metastatic Cancer.

  2. Cleveland Clinic. Metastatic cancer.

  3. Zhou H, Dong D, Chen B, et al. Diagnosis of distant metastasis of lung cancer: based on clinical and radiomic features. Transl Oncol. 2018;11(1):31-36. doi:10.1016/j.tranon.2017.10.010

  4. Rosière R, Berghmans T, De vuyst P, Amighi K, Wauthoz N. The position of inhaled chemotherapy in the care of patients with lung tumors: clinical feasibility and indications according to recent pharmaceutical progresses. Cancers (Basel). 2019;11(3). doi:10.3390/cancers11030329

  5. American Society of Clinical Oncology. Testicular Cancer: Statistics. Cancer.Net.

  6. American Cancer Society. Lung Metastases.

Additional Reading

By Lynne Eldridge, MD
 Lynne Eldrige, MD, is a lung cancer physician, patient advocate, and award-winning author of "Avoiding Cancer One Day at a Time."