Metastatic breast cancer is the fourth stage in the progression of breast cancers.
Metastasized Breast Cancer; Understanding The Condition At A Deeper Level
It occurs when cancer has spread to other body parts. Although breast cancer can spread to any other body parts, lungs, bones, liver, and brain are the most commonly affected organs.
The treatment route for this type of cancer involves managing the condition and prevent it from spreading further.
What influences metastasize of breast cancer?
According to the data of the National Breast Cancer Foundation, cancer mostly spreads in the heart, lung, bones, and kidney, with bones being the first organ that gets affected.
As elaborated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), breast cancer spread through the following a definite pattern of progression.
They first grow inwardly into nearby healthy tissue, followed by penetration into adjoining healthy lymph nodes and tissues.
In the next stage, they travel through the lymphatic system, and blood flows into other organs of the body like the kidney, lung, and brain.
The blood vessels and nearby healthy tissues are invaded next at this new site.
Cancer then starts growing into new tissue and develop blood vessels to ensure blood supply for the cancerous tumor so that its growth continues.
An estimated 30% of patients in the early stages of breast cancer are likely to develop metastasize of cancer in a later stage.
The diagnosis for the progression can take months or years after the initial finding of the breast cancer.
Even though the breast cancer cells metastasize into other body parts, they essentially remain breast cancer cells. That is, even if cancer spread onto the brain, it will remain breast cancer cells and not change into brain cancer cells.
Signs and symptoms of metastatic breast cancer.
People can develop metastatic breast cancer without showing any visible symptoms. The occurrence and intensity of symptoms depend on the size of the tumor and the location of progression within the body.
For metastatic cancer that has spread to bones, the symptoms include fracture and pain in the bones, especially in the spine, pelvis, ribs, and the long bones like arms and legs.
In the case of the brain, the symptoms are dizziness, headache, seizure, difficulty in vision and speech, and memory problems.
For metastatic cancer in the liver, the symptoms include jaundice, swelling in the abdomen, leading to poor appetite, fatigue, fever, and weight loss.
Symptoms for metastatic cancer in the lungs are discomfort or pain in the chest, continuous coughing, and shortness of breath.
Diagnosis options for metastatic breast cancer.
Metastatic breast cancer can be detected by a number of tests; these are bone scans, chest x-rays, CT or CAT scans, MRI scans, blood tests, PET and PET-CT Scans.
The doctor can decide which of the tests the patients need to undergo and it is crucial that he explains to the patients why a particular test or a combination of tests is important for the individual.
Some critical points of discussion for the doctor and the patient include but are not limited to, the necessity and procedure of the tests, significance of the result, any side effects that may associate, with such procedures, availability of any other options, and so forth.
Since the patient possesses the right to refuse to undergo any medical tests if he feels uncomfortable about it.
Available treatment routes for the cancer.
Metastatic breast cancer does not have any treatment as of yet.
According to the NCI data, treatment is aimed at slowing down or blocking the progression of the cancer, relieving and managing the symptoms to improve the quality of life for the patient, and prolonging the individual’s life expectancy.
Some of the common treatment options for metastatic breast cancer are chemotherapy to destroy the cancer cells in the body, radiation therapy to stop the further progression of cancer, targeted therapy, hormone therapy, clinical trials, and complementary or holistic medicines.
If the patient does not respond to treatment, doctors can decide to stop treatment for the individual or the patient can himself decide so.
