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A diagnosis of breast cancer can be enormously overwhelming and frightening for anyone. But when the diagnosis is that of metastatic breast cancer, the fear can be staggering. This type of cancer is defined as breast cancer that has spread from the breast – the original site of the cancer – to other parts of the body such as the bones, lungs, or liver. The treatment may be devastating to a newly diagnosed patient; but new advances in treatment can help manage symptoms and increase longevity.

Cancer is defined by four different stages and metastatic breast cancer is defined as stage 4 and it means that the cancer has spread beyond the breast and underarm lymph nodes to other part of the body. Another way to explain this is that the cancer cells have migrated and are now growing outside of the original tumor.

The treatment options for this cancer are the same as treating any other cancer. But treatment must be aggressive based on the stage of this particular disease. Because the definition of metastatic breast cancer is cancer that has spread from the breast to other parts of the body, treatment must be speedy and assertive in order to stop the spread of the cells to any further locations in the body.

The most common places for breast cancer to spread are within the breast or to the nearby chest wall or to the liver, lungs, or bones. Common symptoms include a lump in your breast or on your chest wall, bone pain, or shortness of breath. It is also possible that you will not have any symptoms and that the only way to keep yourself healthy is to be proactive and to take an active role in your health care. It may be necessary to have continuous laboratory tests and x-rays to determine whether or not the cancer has spread.

The most common secondary locations are the lungs, brain, liver, and bones. Metastatic breast cancer is certainly not confined to these locations and not all may be affected; these are statistically the most frequently affected areas. However it is not defined as cancer that has spread to any places close to the breast such as skin, muscles underneath or around the breast, or bones nearby the primary cancer location.

Treatment is palliative, improving quality of life, relieving symptoms and aimed at extending a woman’s lifetime. But there are new treatments coming that are giving more hope to those patients with this cancer. Many women with this illness choose to become part of a clinical trial in order to access treatments that are not yet approved by the FDA.

There may come a time with metastatic breast cancer when you make a decision that quality of life is more important than quantity. If the medical treatments are not working and the effects of them are more devastating than the actual disease, you may have a choice to make.

Some people make the decision after talking to their family, friends and doctors to shift the focus of their treatments from attempting to cure the disease to staying comfortable and enjoying life. The care at this point is entirely focused on providing symptom relief as well as support for you and your family so that everyone can make the most of the time remaining.

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