Silent Cancers: Signs You Might Ignore for Years | March 16, 2025

Some cancers develop in the shadows, without visible symptoms. Find out how to recognize them and why screening them is crucial.

Silent cancers develop in the shadows, often for years, without causing obvious symptoms. These insidious tumors only appear at an advanced stage, making their early detection complex.

The mechanisms of a worrying silence

The development of cancer is a long and complex process. As Dr. Jérôme Viguier, oncologist, explains, “the first cancer cells are undetectable at the beginning, because they are microscopic and do not cause any symptoms.” This initial silence is based on several factors:

The tiny size of the cancer cells in the early stages.
A location in areas that are difficult to explore, such as the pancreas or prostate.
The absence of specific symptoms, making their early detection almost impossible.

The time between the appearance of the first abnormal cells and visible symptoms can vary from a few years to a decade. This latency depends on the type of cancer, its growth rate and its location.
These invisibility mechanisms make these cancers particularly difficult to diagnose, even with advanced medical tools.

Cancer experts in camouflage

Some cancers are particularly adept at escaping medical vigilance. Among them:

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