These include:
For metastatic breast cancer, systemic treatments play the largest role in treatment.
The reasoning for this is that with metastases, the cancer has already spread well beyond the breast.
These treatments are unable to potentially cure cancer that has spread.
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It’s very common with metastatic breast cancer to have several different lines of treatment.
That said, the first treatments chosen for metastatic cancer are often related to thehormone receptor statusof your cancer.
If your original cancer was estrogen receptor positive, it may now be negative, and vice versa.
Get our printable guide for your next healthcare appointment to help you ask the right questions.
This is different than the curative approach used with most early-stage breast cancers.
Examples of possible first-line treatments based on receptor status include the following.
The choice of drugs will depend on whether you were on hormonal treatment when your cancer returned.
For postmenopausal women, aromatase inhibitors can be used alone or with specific enzyme inhibitors.
If your tumor is estrogen receptor positive but is progressing rapidly, there are several options.
Chemotherapy may also be used in addition to hormonal therapy for those who have tumors which are growing rapidly.
If you have significant symptoms related to metastases, other treatments may be added in as well.
If your cancer recurred while on Herceptin, one of the other HER 2 medications may be used.
If your tumor is growing rapidly, chemotherapy may be considered.
As with estrogen receptor positive tumors, symptomatic metastases may require local treatment as well.
Treatment may begin with tamoxifen for those who have estrogen receptor-positive tumors, or with chemotherapy.
The first step is educating yourself about your disease.
Read through the information provided here, and any information you received from your cancer center.
Keep a running list of questions to ask your oncologist, and bring them with you to each appointment.
If you are still finding it hard to understand something, ask again.
Get our printable guide for your next healthcare appointment to help you ask the right questions.
You may find it helpful to talk to people who have been there.
Talk to your friends and family and ask for their inputbut the ultimate decisions are up to you.
Support communities are sometimes a good place to learn about the centers that excel in breast health.
Getting a second opinion does not mean that you will have to travel to that center for treatment.
You may not ever need to travel to see one of these specialists.
Often times, a second-opinion healthcare provider can work with your local oncologist to offer guidance and recommendations.
Other people dont want to know, and that is fine as well.
One is that statistics are numbers, not people.
Another reason statistics fail us is that they are a measure of how people did in the past.
Many of the statistics we use to judge prognosis are at least five years old.
Yet many of the drugs available for metastatic breast cancer were not available five years ago.
This means that 24 months after diagnosis, half will have died and half will still be alive.
Its hoped that these new categories of treatments will soon be changing old breast cancer statistics for the better.
Being your own advocate means taking an active role in the decisions that go along with your treatment.
It means asking questions when you dont understand something, and continuing to ask until you do understand.
In the past, few choices often existed for people diagnosed with metastatic cancer.
The truth is that many of these choices will come down to differences in your own personal needs.
Some people find it more difficult than others to advocate for themselves.
Many drugs are being evaluated in clinical trials, and one of these approaches may offer a different approach.
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