• Question: Which type of cancer is the most devastating/quick to spread/malicious?

    Asked by crayon to Clare, Mariana, Pedro, Robert, Susanne on 13 Nov 2012. This question was also asked by isita3012.
    • Photo: Robert Insall

      Robert Insall answered on 13 Nov 2012:

      There is a brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme which is spectacularly horrible for all sorts of reasons. It’s not the quickest, but probably the hardest to treat and most evil.

      Devastating and quick to spread are different – often the quickest-growing ones are the easiest to treat, because chemotherapy selects fast-growing cells over slow-growing cells.

    • Photo: Susanne Muekusch

      Susanne Muekusch answered on 13 Nov 2012:

      Hi crayon,

      i work on glioblastoma multiforme which Robert mentioned. And it kills the patients quite quickly, in one year or less for half the patients. Currently, glioblastoma multiforme is incurable. Interestingly, it is a tumor that does not spread. Most other tumors are deadly because they spread, brain cancer is deadly because it affects the brain and we can’t do without.

      Melanoma is one type of cancer which spreads a lot relatively early on. Depending on the tumor stage, patients die from melanoma quite quickly.

    • Photo: Clare Taylor

      Clare Taylor answered on 13 Nov 2012:

      Yes, glioblastoma multiforme seems to be the most aggressive of cancers. We are lucky that scientists like Susanne are trying to understand this type of cancer so that we can try and find ways to try and treat it.

Comments