A cancer can sometimes develop and spread to another place in the body but the place where it started from cannot be found. Cancers are usually described by the place where they start, known as the primary site, so these types of cancers are called cancer of unknown primary.

People with CUP can have a wide range of symptoms.

These can include:

• loss of appetite
• fatigue
• weight loss
• breathlessness or discomfort in the chest
• persistent cough
• persistent pain (for example pain in the bones or abdomen)
• swelling of the abdomen
• jaundice
• swollen lymph nodes in the neck, armpit or groin
• headaches
• nausea or vomiting
• a lump or thickening in any part of the body
• changes in bowel or bladder habits
• unusual bleeding or discharge
• unexplained fever that does not go away
• night sweats.

Many of these symptoms are what doctors call ‘non-specific’. This means you can have similar symptoms with a range of medical conditions, not just with cancer of unknown primary.

The symptoms people experience usually depend on where in the body the cancer is and how the cancer is behaving.

In some early cases of cancer of unknown primary, patients may have few or no symptoms.