ACADEMY PUBLIC POLICIES

VIDEO

Advancements in Metastatic Breast Cancer

What is metastatic breast cancer?

Breast cancer is referred to as recurrent breast cancer if it reappears after it was originally diagnosed and treated. Recurrence happens in two forms.

There is local recurrence, which means that it came back in the breast where it originally started. There is also distant recurrence or metastatic breast cancer. In metastatic breast cancer, the cancer has returned to another part of the body, including distant organs such as the lungs, liver, bones, or brain. The goal for treatment is control of the disease. Think of it as a chronic illness, like diabetes. If diabetics didn’t watch their diet and take their insulin several times a day, they would not survive. This chronic illness works in a similar way. You take treatments regularly to keep the disease in control and, whenever possible, put it into remission so that it is not actively growing.

At a minimum, the goal is to maintain good quality of life for the patient while also treating the disease so that it remains stable over time and doesn’t progress. The goal is not cure, the goal is control. When breast cancer attacks other organs in the body, these organs can have difficulty doing their daily job-creating new blood cells, providing oxygen, metabolizing medicines, keeping our heart and lungs functioning properly, and other important processes required to sustain life.

 Does the diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer mean an instant death sentence?

No, it does not. However, it is true that a large number of women with stage IV breast cancer (metastatic breast cancer) will succumb to this disease. Still there are women who continue to live long and productive lives living in harmony with their disease-like someone who needs to keep their sugar levels in constant check.

Katie’s comments:

I was in shock when I first heard that my cancer had returned and was in my bones. I had had a few aches and pains that lingered longer than usual but I never expected to hear this kind of news. Fortunately, this doesn’t mean a death sentence like I assumed it would. Hormonal therapy may get this back into control the doctor said. My mission is to live a long life still with my family and I will continue to set goals for the future.

Cancer is a disease of aging, and the incidence of breast cancer is increasing faster in older women than in younger women.

Terms:

Remission - A decrease in or disappearance of signs and symptoms of cancer.

Recurrent cancer - The disease has come back in spite of the initial treatment.

Local recurrence - The breast cancer has returned inside the breast after treatment was completed.

Distant recurrence - The breast cancer has been found now in another organ, such as the lungs, liver, bones, or brain. It is located outside of the breast and lymph nodes near the breast.

Cells - Basic elements of tissues; the appearance and composition of individual cells are unique to the tissue they compose.