met

n. cancer that has spread beyond its point of origin. Subjects: English, Medical

Editorial Note: The plural form, mets, is sometimes used in the singular, perhaps because of a mistaken reinterpretation of mets as a clipping of the singular metastasis. Etymological Note: Clipping of metastasis ‘a change in a location (in a body) of a disease; a disease that has made such a change’ or metastases, the plural form.

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Citations: 1990 [Rick Crownover] Usenet: sci.med (Sept. 1) “Re: Calcium in Blood”: Malignancy with bone mets (breast ca, myeloma, lymphoma). 1991 [Donald Ekman] Usenet: sci.med (Aug. 18) “Prostatic cancer (again)”: Is it likely that I have micro-mets that are simply too small to show up on the scans? 1999 Cathy Gordon Houston Chronicle (Aug. 1) “When the doctor is the patient” p. 8: I have mets.…it has metastasized to my lungs. Don’t pay for that trip to France. 1999 [ajb] Usent: sci.med.diseases.cancer (Oct. 29) “lung cancer symptoms?”: A friend of mine who has unclear chest x-ray and feels a pain in his chest feels strongly that it may be a “mets” from his primary cancer. 2000 Tara McParland Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville) (Sept. 12) “The gift of small victories; A Stage IV breast cancer patient’s quest for hope and healing” p. C1: The CT scan showed mets to the lungs and the liver. 2005 Deborah Hutton Guardian (U.K.) (July 3) “Do mention the ‘C’ word”: There is no stage V. It was the worst of all news—“as bad as it can get,” confirmed the nurse at the Middlesex Hospital who rang to inform me that the CT scan had revealed mets (metastases, or spread) in my liver.

Posted 7 Jul 05 | Permalink | Tell a Friend