Treatment for cancer of unknown primary (CUP) (2024)

FAQs

Treatment for cancer of unknown primary (CUP)? ›

The main treatment for cancer of unknown primary (CUP) is cancer drugs, most commonly chemotherapy. You often have a combination of 2 or 3 chemotherapy drugs. You may also have radiotherapy to help to control your symptoms and hormone therapy.

Doctors can't cure most cases of CUP. This is because the cancer has already spread from one part of the body to another. But treatment can control it, relieve symptoms, and give you a good quality of life. Your doctor may also suggest holding off treatment for a while if you don't have many symptoms.

Generally for all those with CUP: around 16 out of 100 people (around 16%) survive for 1 year or more. around 10 out of 100 people (around 10%) survive for 3 years or more.

Your doctor may ask you to have several tests to try to find the primary cancer. If the tests cannot find where the cancer started, the doctor will try to identify the type of cell the cancer developed from. This gives the doctor a better idea of where the cancer may have started.

There is no staging system for cancer of unknown primary (CUP). This is because the cancer has already spread and doctors don't know where the original cancer started.

Median survival in patients with cancer of unknown primary origin ranges from 11 weeks to 11 months. The 5-year overall survival rate is about 11%.

Carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP) is a rare disease in which malignant (cancer) cells are found in the body but the place the cancer began is not known. Sometimes the primary cancer is never found. The signs and symptoms of CUP are different, depending on where the cancer has spread in the body.

Cancer of the unknown primary is a rare group of metastatic cancers that are found after they've spread, but the location of the original tumor isn't clear. These secondary tumors are most commonly found in the lungs, liver, lymph nodes and the bones.

Moreover, many of these patients die of CUP at the same metastatic sites as the primary cancers diagnosed in their relatives. These findings favour the presence of common genetic mechanisms between certain primary cancers and CUP.

Brain and pancreatic cancers have much lower median survival rates which have not improved as dramatically over the last forty years. Indeed, pancreatic cancer has one of the worst survival rates of all cancers. Small cell lung cancer has a five-year survival rate of 4% according to Cancer Centers of America's Website.

What is the most common type of cancer of unknown primary? ›

Adenocarcinomas: About six of every 10 cancer of unknown primary cases are adenocarcinomas, meaning they began in gland cells. Most frequently, the primary sites are the lung, pancreas, breast, prostate, stomach, liver or colon.

Approach to diagnosing a cancer of unknown primary

Endoscopy exams to look at organs through a lighted tube placed into a body opening such as the mouth, nose, or anus. Blood tests. Biopsies to remove samples of tissues or cells and look at them with a microscope or test them in the lab.

This type of cancer is also called occult primary tumor. In cancer of unknown primary, cancer cells have spread in the body but the place where the primary cancer began is not known. Many cancer deaths are caused when cancer moves from the original tumor and spreads to other tissues and organs.

Because carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP) is not the primary cancer and has already spread when it was found, the potential to cure the cancer is less likely than finding a primary cancer early. Survival rates vary from person to person, ranging from months to several years.

Often, CUP is too advanced to be cured, and the goal may be to shrink the cancer for a time, in hopes of improving symptoms and helping you live longer. This treatment is considered palliative or supportive care, because it's meant to relieve symptoms such as pain, but is not expected to cure the cancer.

For a cancer of unknown primary (CUP) that is an adenocarcinoma or a poorly differentiated carcinoma, a number of chemo combinations may be used, including: Carboplatin plus pacl*taxel (Taxol^®)

If you're wondering how long you can have cancer without knowing it, there's no straight answer. Some cancers can be present for months or years before they're detected. Some commonly undetected cancers are slow-growing conditions, which gives doctors a better chance at successful treatment.

Examples of chemotherapy for CUP include: carboplatin and pacl*taxel. gemcitabine and carboplatin or cisplatin. epirubicin, cisplatin and capecitabine (ECX)

If the primary cancer is not found, then cancer of unknown primary (CUP) is confirmed. Even though the primary site has not been identified, tests may suggest possible places where the cancer may have started and your consultant can offer treatment based on this information.