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Being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer is quite difficult to process. The goal when managing early stage breast cancer is obtaining a permanent remission, e.g., a cure. But for stage 4, beating the beast is a daily and lifetime battle. It is not generally considered curable, but with new therapies, it may be treated as a chronic disease.
Is Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer curable?
Stage 4 is often diagnosed when a recurrence of breast cancer is found, but it may also be how the cancer is initially discovered. Treatment goals will include controlling the spread of cancer and promoting good quality of life.
What are the treatment goals for Stage 4 breast cancer?
In this article, we’ll go over what to expect when it comes to metastatic breast cancer, from prognosis to treatment. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), the 5-year survival rate after diagnosis for people with stage 4 breast cancer is 28 percent. This percentage is considerably lower than earlier stages.
What is the prognosis for metastatic breast cancer?
Doru Paul, MD, is board-certified in internal medicine, medical oncology, and hematology. Stage 4 is the most advanced form of breast cancer. It is also referred to as metastatic breast cancer because the malignancy will have spread (metastasized) from the breast to other parts of the body, such as the bones, lungs, brain, or liver.
What is Stage 4 breast cancer and how does it spread?
How long is chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer?
Adjuvant and neoadjuvant chemo is often given for a total of 3 to 6 months, depending on the drugs used. The length of treatment for metastatic (Stage 4) breast cancer depends on how well it is working and what side effects you have.
What are the final stages of stage 4 metastatic breast cancer?
pain in the bones or joints, which may be constant or become worse with activity. back or neck pain. increased risk of bone fractures. numbness or weakness in certain areas of the body.
How long can you live with metastatic cancer treatment?
A patient with widespread metastasis or with metastasis to the lymph nodes has a life expectancy of less than six weeks. A patient with metastasis to the brain has a more variable life expectancy (one to 16 months) depending on the number and location of lesions and the specifics of treatment.
Can you live 10 years with metastatic breast cancer?
What is the prognosis? While there is no cure for metastatic breast cancer, there are treatments that slow the cancer, extending the patient's life while also improving the quality of life, Henry says. Many patients now live 10 years or more after a metastatic diagnosis.
What is the life expectancy of someone with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer?
While treatable, metastatic breast cancer (MBC) cannot be cured. The five-year survival rate for stage 4 breast cancer is 22 percent; median survival is three years. Annually, the disease takes 40,000 lives.
Is Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer a death sentence?
Many women live for decades with metastatic breast cancer. A stage 4 diagnosis is not an instant death sentence, says Renee Sendelbach, 40, from Austin, Texas, who was diagnosed seven years ago, when she learned that her breast cancer had moved into her lungs, bones, and lymph nodes.
What is the long-term prognosis for metastatic breast cancer?
Although survival of patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) has been significantly prolonged over the past decade due to improvement of anti-cancer therapeutics, only a few patients survive for more than 10 years. It has not been determined which patients can have long-term survival with treatment.
What causes death in metastatic breast cancer?
The most common cause of death was metastatic disease to various organs, accounting for 42% of all deaths. Infection was the second most common cause of death; however, only 27% of the patients with infection had significant neutropenia. In patients dying of hemorrhage, only 9% were thrombocytopenic.
How long can you live with breast cancer that has spread to the bones?
Some studies suggest that the average 1-year survival rate for people with metastatic bone cancer is 40–59%. However, the American Cancer Society states that people with distant breast cancer are 28% as likely to live for at least another 5 years as those without this condition.
What is the longest anyone has lived with metastatic breast cancer?
She survived for 18 years after the diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) while maintaining a good quality of life. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case in the literature with the longest overall survival in a patient with MBC.
How long can you live when breast cancer spreads to the brain?
Brain metastases in breast cancer patients represent a catastrophic event that portends a poor prognosis, with a median survival that ranges from 2 to 25.3 months despite treatment [5, 12–14].
How fast does metastatic breast cancer spread?
Each division takes about 1 to 2 months, so a detectable tumor has likely been growing in the body for 2 to 5 years. Generally speaking, the more cells divide, the bigger the tumor grows.
What does stage 4 mean for breast cancer?
If your doctor has made a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer, this means that the cancer has advanced to what’s known as stage 4.
What is the survival rate for breast cancer?
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), the 5-year survival rate after diagnosis for people with stage 4 breast cancer is 28 percent. This percentage is considerably lower than earlier stages. For all stages, the overall 5-year survival rate is 90 percent.
How do you know if you have metastatic breast cancer?
Symptoms of metastatic breast cancer 1 If breast cancer has spread to your bones, you may notice a sudden new bone pain. Breast cancer most commonly spreads to your ribs, spine, pelvis, or arm and leg bones. 2 If it has spread to your brain, you may experience headaches, vision or speech changes, or memory problems. 3 Breast cancer that has spread to your lungs or liver usually causes no symptoms.
How does chemotherapy help with breast cancer?
chemotherapy, where drugs given orally or through an IV travel through your bloodstream to fight cancer cells.
Why is it important to treat breast cancer early?
Because survival rates are higher in the early stages of breast cancer, early diagnosis and treatment is crucial. But remember: The right treatment for stage 4 breast cancer can improve quality of life and longevity.
What bone does breast cancer spread to?
If breast cancer has spread to your bones, you may notice a sudden new bone pain. Breast cancer most commonly spreads to your ribs, spine, pelvis, or arm and leg bone s.
How long after breast cancer diagnosis can you have a good outlook?
The stage of your breast cancer at diagnosis plays an important role in your outlook. According to the NCI. Trusted Source. , you have the best outlook in the 5 years after your breast cancer diagnosis when the cancer is diagnosed and treated at an earlier stage.
How long do women live with stage 4 breast cancer?
What this means is that 27 percent of women will live for at least five years. Some will live far longer, while others will live less. The median life expectancy is three years.
What is the goal of stage 4 cancer?
The general aim of stage 4 cancer treatment is to improve the quality of life and extend the duration of life of patients with metastatic disease. Each case will be treated differently based on the disease characteristics and the intended goals of treatment.
How big is a her2 tumor?
By contrast, HER2-positive tumor may be less than 1 centimeter (0.4 inches) before they disseminate to lymph nodes and beyond. For the purpose of classification and treatment, breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body is still considered breast cancer irrespective of its location.
What is the most advanced form of breast cancer?
Survival Rates. Monitoring. Coping. Stage 4 is the most advanced form of breast cancer. It is also referred to as metastatic breast cancer because the malignancy will have spread (metastasized) from the breast to other parts of the body, such as the bones, lungs, brain, or liver. Stage 4 breast cancer is often diagnosed when the cancer recurs, ...
How long does cancer stay stable?
While systemic treatment may keep the cancer stable for months or years , there may be times when it becomes unstable and starts to progress. When this happens, a change of treatment can often stabilize the malignancy.
What does N0 mean in cancer?
The letters are followed by numbers to either characterize the size of the tumor (for example, T1 for a small tumor and T3 for a bigger tumor) or the extent of a malignancy (with N0 meaning no affected lymph nodes and N4 meaning 10 or more affected lymph nodes).
What is the staging system for breast cancer?
Staging. Cancer staging is performed to direct treatment and predict the likely outcome, or prognosis. The staging system most commonly used for breast cancer—and most other cancers, for that matter—is called the TNM Classification of Malignant Tumors. In the TNM staging system:
How long can you live with metastatic breast cancer?
Many people live for months or years after a healthcare professional has diagnosed metastatic breast cancer. Treatment can help a person live longer and slow down the progression of the cancer. As a person with metastatic breast cancer approaches the end of life, their treatment approach might shift to palliative care.
What is metastatic breast cancer?
Metastatic breast cancer occurs when the cancer spreads from the breast to another part of the body. Symptoms and treatment for this stage of breast cancer are different to those of the earlier stages.
What is the most common cancer that affects the bones, lungs, brain, and liver?
Most of the time, metastatic breast cancer affects the bones, lungs, brain, or liver.
Why is it so hard to eat after breast cancer?
A dry mouth and throat, changes in taste and smell, and a decreased need for calories can make it difficult for a person to eat. Nausea and constipation may also diminish the appetite. Weight loss: People with metastatic breast cancer can lose weight for several reasons.
How to help a cancer patient who is not eating?
Caregivers may become upset or concerned when a person with cancer does not eat. However, they should try to understand that it may be difficult or impossible for the person to eat or drink when they feel ill, are exhausted, or have no appetite. Try ice chips to keep the mouth moist.
What are the symptoms of cancer?
Emotional changes: Coping with the end of life can cause depression, anxiety, mood swings, stress, and a variety of emotions. All these symptoms are normal as the cancer progresses. End-of-life treatment focuses on providing relief from these symptoms and improving quality of life.
Where does breast cancer spread?
Metastatic breast cancer most commonly spreads to the bones. Symptoms of bone metastasis include:
What is the stage of breast cancer?
Knowing the facts about life expectancy, survival rates and treatment can help ease your anxiety at this difficult time. Stage 4 breast cancer means the cancer has spread, or metastasized, beyond the breast and nearby lymph nodes to other parts of the body, like the liver, bones, lungs, brain or other organs, according to ...
How long do women live after breast cancer diagnosis?
According to the study, some women — a small but significant number — live for many years after they are diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer: More than 11 percent of women younger than 64 who were diagnosed between 2000 and 2004 lived for at least 10 years.
Why does breast cancer grow?
This type of cancer grows because the cancer cells have receptors that attach to the hormones, but hormone therapy prevents the hormones from attaching to the receptors. This therapy reaches cancer throughout the body, not just cancer in the breast. This type of treatment is recommended for women who have cancer tumors that are hormone-receptor ...
How many women have metastatic breast cancer?
More than 154,000 women in the United States have metastatic breast cancer, according to the Susan G. Komen organization. There is, however, encouraging news about the life expectancy of those with stage 4 breast cancer. Research is showing that women with stage 4 breast cancer are living longer, particularly younger women.
What is the purpose of chemo?
Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy (or chemo as it’s often called) uses drugs that are given either orally or by injection to target cancer cells throughout the body. Chemotherapy also destroys healthy cells, which is why it causes significant side effects.
What is the goal of breast cancer treatment?
The goal is to reduce a woman’s symptoms, prolong her life and shrink her tumor. Hormone therapy: These drugs, taken by mouth or injection, are used for breast cancers that are affected by hormones, like progesterone and estrogen.
How long does it take to recover from breast cancer?
Also among those women, average survival time went up from 22 months to nearly 39 months. For women 50 to 64 years old, average survival time increased from just over 19 months ...
How long does it take to live with metastatic breast cancer?
The overall five-year survival rate for metastatic breast cancer is reported as 27% by the National Cancer Institute looking at data from 2008 to 2014. This same rate is 22% as reported by the American Cancer Society, with the median survival time (the amount of time after which 50% of people are still alive and 50% have passed away) at three years.
What are the symptoms of stage 4 breast cancer?
Coping with the many symptoms that can occur with stage 4 breast cancer can be frustrating and discouraging, and people sometimes wonder if they will have to feel poorly the rest of their lives. Anxiety and depression are also severe for some people with advanced disease.
What is aggressive treatment for breast cancer?
The goal of treatment for metastatic breast cancer is often very different than that of early-stage disease, and this can raise anxiety among patients and loved ones of patients .
What does #BCSM stand for?
Becoming involved via social media such as Twitter is also an excellent way to learn about the latest research, using the hashtag #bcsm, which stands for breast cancer social media.
What is the goal of breast cancer?
With early-stage breast cancer, the goal is usually to be aggressive in order to reduce the risk that the cancer will come back. In contrast, with stage 4 disease, the goal is usually to use the minimum amount of treatment possible to control the disease (at least at the current time).
Where are breast cancer metastases?
Location of metastases: Breast cancer metastases to bones are associated with a higher survival rate than metastases to other regions such as the lungs, liver, and brain. Treatment choices: This includes treatment of oligometastases.
Is stage 4 breast cancer curable?
At the same time, it's important to understand that stage 4 breast cancer isn't curable. It can be helpful to look at current statistics and consider the many variables that affect life expectancy. While it's important not to raise false hope, it may help to know the reality that there are some long-term survivors.
How long do you live with stage 4 breast cancer?
Life Expectancy of Stage 4 Breast Cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, 22% of the patients live five years after being diagnosed of stage 4 breast cancer. Compared to earlier stages of the cancer, this rate is considerably lower. At stage two, the five year survival rate is at 90% and at stage three, it is 72%.
What Are the Symptoms of Stage 4 Breast Cancer?
Women with stage four breast cancer can experience symptoms in the spine, hip, ribs, skull, pelvis, arms and legs. Walking, even for short distances, can become difficult and extremely painful. When the cancer reaches the lungs it can cause shortness of breath, difficulty breathing and a chronic, painful cough. Cancer cells in the liver do not display observable symptoms for a considerable amount of time. As the disease progresses, women can experience jaundice, fever and exaggerated weight loss as a result of the cancer spreading to the liver.
How long is a woman alive after breast cancer?
About 50% percent of women who are diagnosed with stage four breast cancer are still alive 18 months after their diagnosis. Over the years, life expectancy for stage four cancer has been steadily and slowly improving. This has been mainly due to combination treatment of surgery, radiation, multiple medications, and a much more positive support network.
What is the best treatment for cancer?
2. Hormone Therapy. This treatment can be really helpful for women who have hormone receptor-positive cancers. This basically means that the cancer needs hormones to grow. For such women, medications under this treatment can prevent the cancer from getting the hormones.
Why are clinical trials conducted?
These are open to many women who have stage four breast cancer. Clinical trials are usually conducted to test out new treatments on patients who are willing. This can give the patient access to cutting edge treatments that would be otherwise unavailable.
Can cancer spread to the liver?
Cancer cells in the liver do not display observable symptoms for a considerable amount of time. As the disease progresses, women can experience jaundice, fever and exaggerated weight loss as a result of the cancer spreading to the liver.
Is breast cancer incurable?
The cancer will have moved to the brain, lungs, liver and even the bones. Stage 4 breast cancer has usually been regarded as incurable. But recent advancements in research and medical science have resulted in the disease being treated as a chronic condition.
Location of Metastases
Staging
How Is Stage 4 Breast Cancer Treated?
Survival Rates
Monitoring
Coping with Stage 4 Breast Cancer
Summary
- Stage 4 breast cancer is also known as metastatic breast cancer, meaning the cancer has spread to other organs. While stage 4 breast cancer is not considered curable, treatments can control the spread and improve quality of life in many cases. The median survival is three years, but some people live 10 years or more after diagnosis. Treatments can ...
A Word from Verywell
Life Expectancy Statistics
Treatment Options
- Treatments for this stage of cancer are not intended to cure it, according to the American Cancer Society. The goal is to reduce a woman’s symptoms, prolong her life and shrink her tumor. The available stage 4 breast cancer treatment options include: 1. Hormone therapy: These drugs, taken by mouth or injection, are used for breast cancers that are ...
Diet and Exercise
Coping and Support
Stopping Treatment