Metastatic Breast Cancer Diagnosis & Treatment

Metastatic breast cancer is cancer that originated in the breast and has spread to other organ systems in the body. Women may have metastatic disease at the time of their initial diagnosis or in the months or years following a diagnosis of localized breast cancer. As is true with localized breast cancer, metastasis and its meaning to your health depend on many factors.

To decide on treatments the following factors are important: where the metastasis is, what symptoms you are experiencing, what prior treatments you have had and all of the information about your breast cancer's biology. The most common sites of spread beyond local breast cancer are: bone, lung, liver, and brain.

Learning of a diagnosis of metastatic disease is often accompanied by fear, uncertainty and difficulty with treatment decision making. While we have no treatments guaranteed to cure metastatic breast cancer, many women live many years with courage, tenacity and hope treating breast cancer as a chronic illness and responding variably to systemic therapies. In addition to standard recommended treatments (about which there might be differing medical opinions), there are numerous clinical trials that may be relevant to each woman's situation. There are newer therapies under investigation for metastatic breast cancer using new chemotherapy drug or older drugs in combination with new hormonal therapies. There is rich innovation in the arena of preventing further metastases (antiangiogenesis), vaccine research, alternative delivery systems for older chemotherapy agents and interruption of the genetic "turning on" of breast cancer development. Each woman reacts differently, but it is generally true that women need both information and emotional support and benefit greatly from advocacy on their behalf.