Remembering Christine McVie: Understanding Cancer of Unknown Primary

The news

Christine McVie — the Fleetwood Mac singer, keyboardist, and songwriter behind "Songbird," "Don't Stop," and "Everywhere" — died on November 30, 2022, at the age of 79. Her family announced that she passed peacefully after a short illness.

Reporting later described details from her death certificate: the cause was an ischemic stroke, with the certificate also listing metastatic malignancy of unknown primary origin, and atrial fibrillation (a heart rhythm condition) noted as a contributing factor. In other words, cancer had been found in her body, but the place it originally began had not been identified. Out of respect, we keep to that public record.

Why people are talking about it

McVie was, by many accounts, the emotional center of Fleetwood Mac's songwriting, and her death was mourned worldwide. When the details of her cause of death were reported, an unfamiliar phrase caught people's attention — "cancer of unknown primary origin" — and prompted a natural question: how can cancer be found without knowing where it started?

What this cancer means

According to the National Cancer Institute, cancer of unknown primary — sometimes abbreviated CUP — occurs when cancer cells have spread through the body and formed metastatic tumors, but the site of the original (primary) cancer is not known.

To understand that, it helps to know how doctors usually identify cancer. NCI explains that metastatic cancer cells, viewed under a microscope, keep the features of the tissue they came from rather than the place they've landed — that's how a cancer that spread to the lung can still be recognized as, say, breast cancer. Occasionally, though, those clues aren't enough to pinpoint the origin, and the cancer is classified as unknown primary. NCI notes this is a real and recognized category with its own approaches to treatment and clinical trials.

Awareness, screening & prevention

Honesty is important here: because "cancer of unknown primary" isn't a single organ's disease but a description of cancer whose origin can't be located, NCI states it does not have evidence-based information on screening for, or preventing, carcinoma of unknown primary specifically.

What remains within reach is the general foundation of cancer awareness: keeping up with the routine screenings that do exist for common cancers, since those are our best tools for finding cancer early and identifying where it starts. Our free screening check-up tool can show which screenings are generally recommended at your age. Persistent, unexplained symptoms are always worth bringing to a healthcare professional.

Common questions

How can cancer have no known origin? NCI explains that doctors usually identify a cancer's source by the features of its cells. When those clues can't point to a starting organ despite testing, it's classified as cancer of unknown primary.

Is it a rare situation? It is one recognized category among many cancer diagnoses. NCI publishes specific patient information and lists clinical trials for it, reflecting that it's a distinct area of care and research.

Did cancer cause McVie's death? Reporting on her death certificate listed an ischemic stroke as the cause, with metastatic cancer of unknown primary also recorded. We share only what was publicly reported and avoid going beyond it.

Questions to ask a healthcare team

• If cancer were found, what tests help identify where it started?
• What does "metastatic" mean for how a cancer is treated?
• Which routine cancer screenings am I due for at my age?
• What persistent symptoms would you want me to report promptly?