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About Metastatic / Advanced Breast Cancer
What is metastatic or advanced breast cancer?
- •Metastatic (or advanced) breast cancer means that the cancer cells have moved from the breast and the surrounding lymph nodes to other parts of the body, most commonly the bones, liver, lung, or brain.
- •When people are diagnosed from the start with metastatic breast cancer, it might be called "Stage 4" or "de novo metastatic" breast cancer. Other people with metastatic breast cancer were first diagnosed and treated for an "early-stage" (Stage 0-3) breast cancer but the cancer came back in the months or years after treatment (“recurrent” breast cancer).
What are the different types of breast cancer?
It’s important to know that there are different types of breast cancer. Please click the bolded text below to learn more.
What treatment-related considerations might my doctor bring up?
There are many treatments available to treat metastatic breast cancer. The treatment, or combination of treatments, your doctor offers to you will likely depend on the specific type of breast cancer you have. The goal of your treatment is to shrink your tumor and slow its growth. Treatments can be successful, and some people may stay on the same treatment for a few years. However, after some time (which is different for everyone), treatments may stop working and a new treatment or treatment combination may be offered to you.
What other treatment-related considerations might my doctor bring up?
- •Your doctor may offer you participation in a clinical trial. Clinical trials are research studies in which people volunteer to try new treatments and interventions (under careful supervision) in order to help doctors identify the best treatment plans with the fewest side effects. These studies help improve the overall standard of care (the treatment course that most physicians and experts agree is the most effective and appropriate for a specific subtype and stage of breast cancer).
- •Some clinical trials are designed to test a new treatment to see if it slows the growth of cancer, lengthens the time before the tumor grows or spreads (“progression”), and whether it ultimately improves survival. Sometimes results from a trial will show that a new treatment may or may not lengthen the time before progression.
- •Clinical trials are an important step in discovering new treatments for breast cancer and other diseases as well as new ways to detect, diagnose, and reduce the risk of disease. Learn more about clinical trials here. Participating in a clinical trial may involve extra visits, blood and/or imaging tests, and surveys.
- •If you are not sure if your doctor has discussed whether a clinical trial is right for you, we encourage you to ask for more information about whether it is an option for right now or in the future.