American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Practice Exam 2025 – Comprehensive All-in-One Guide for Exam Success!

A potential sign of abdominal metastasis in a patient is the presence of an enlarged cervical lymph node. Lymph nodes are part of the lymphatic system and play a key role in the body’s immune response. When cancer metastasizes, it often spreads to nearby lymph nodes first before it disseminates to distant sites. An enlarged cervical lymph node could indicate that cancer from neighboring sites, such as the abdomen, has spread or that it could be related to different malignancies.

In contrast, hyperglycemia is commonly associated with diabetes and does not specifically indicate metastatic cancer. Macrocytic anemia could result from a variety of causes, including vitamin deficiencies or bone marrow disorders, but it is not a direct indicator of abdominal metastasis. Similarly, functional urinary incontinence involves the inability to control urination, which is more often related to neurological or anatomical issues, rather than a direct sign of cancer spread in the abdomen. Thus, an enlarged cervical lymph node is a more definitive indicator of possible metastatic disease related to abdominal origins.