Local Recurrent or Metastatic Breast Cancer
Despite treatment, breast cancer sometimes recurs. If it comes back in the breast or near the mastectomy scar, it is a called a local recurrence.
The treatment you will receive for a local recurrence depends on the treatment you had initially.
If you had a lumpectomy or other breast conservation surgery, a local recurrence in the breast will probably be treated with a mastectomy.
If you had a mastectomy, a recurrence will be treated by removing the tumor, if possible, and then radiation therapy.
In either case, this initial treatment may be followed with hormone therapy, chemotherapy, or both.
Metastatic cancer
Breast cancer cells can also travel through the lymph system or through the blood to reach other parts of the body, such as the bones.
This is metastatic breast cancer. Although tumors appear in distant sites, such as the liver, lungs, brain, lymph nodes, or bones, it is not a new cancer, it is a recurrence of the original breast cancer.
In some cases, the breast cancer has already metastasized, or spread, by the time a women discovers that she has breast cancer.
Metastatic breast cancer is generally seen as an incurable disease, but new treatments may put your cancer in remission and give you a good quality of life for many years.
Many women who were treated elsewhere for their primary breast cancer come to SCCA if their disease metastasizes.
If you have metastatic breast cancer, SCCA can offer you new medical procedures and treatments, as well as access to clinical trials that your community doctor may not know about.
No one at SCCA will tell you that a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer is not serious, but there is hope.
Treatment
The treatment you receive for metastatic disease may be similar to the treatment you received for your primary cancer: It may include surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation, or a combination of these treatments. It may include targeted therapies, such as Herceptin. It may also include the new drug Avastin, which is showing promise for women with metastatic breast cancer when combined with Taxol, an older chemotherapy drug.
Your treatment will depend on a number of factors, including the type of treatment you have received in the past, and the symptoms you are experiencing with the new cancer.
The treatment for women who have a distant recurrence in organs such as the lungs, brain, or bones is the same as for women whose cancer is diagnosed as stage IV (and involves those organs) at the time of initial diagnosis.
Expect your doctor to offer you systemic treatment, with chemotherapy, hormone therapy, or both. For women whose cancer cells have high levels of the HER2 protein, immunotherapy with Herceptin, alone or in combination with standard chemotherapy, is an option.
You may also need radiation or surgery to treat symptoms of your disease. Radiation therapy can be used to shrink tumors in the brain or in the bones. Bone metastases may also be treated with bisphosphonates, drugs that help prevent the breakdown of bone and may also prevent bone metastases in breast cancer patients.
Ask your doctor about taking part in clinical trials of promising treatments for metastatic disease.
Some women find that their treatment for metastatic disease is easier to tolerate than the chemotherapy they received during their first diagnosis with breast cancer. The emotional aspects of coping with advanced breast cancer may be more demanding than the medical treatment. SCCA has resources such as support groups, social workers, and pastors who are trained to provide the support you may need.
The treatment you will receive for a local recurrence depends on the treatment you had initially.
If you had a lumpectomy or other breast conservation surgery, a local recurrence in the breast will probably be treated with a mastectomy.
If you had a mastectomy, a recurrence will be treated by removing the tumor, if possible, and then radiation therapy.
In either case, this initial treatment may be followed with hormone therapy, chemotherapy, or both.
Metastatic cancer
Breast cancer cells can also travel through the lymph system or through the blood to reach other parts of the body, such as the bones.
This is metastatic breast cancer. Although tumors appear in distant sites, such as the liver, lungs, brain, lymph nodes, or bones, it is not a new cancer, it is a recurrence of the original breast cancer.
In some cases, the breast cancer has already metastasized, or spread, by the time a women discovers that she has breast cancer.
Metastatic breast cancer is generally seen as an incurable disease, but new treatments may put your cancer in remission and give you a good quality of life for many years.
Many women who were treated elsewhere for their primary breast cancer come to SCCA if their disease metastasizes.
If you have metastatic breast cancer, SCCA can offer you new medical procedures and treatments, as well as access to clinical trials that your community doctor may not know about.
No one at SCCA will tell you that a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer is not serious, but there is hope.
Treatment
The treatment you receive for metastatic disease may be similar to the treatment you received for your primary cancer: It may include surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation, or a combination of these treatments. It may include targeted therapies, such as Herceptin. It may also include the new drug Avastin, which is showing promise for women with metastatic breast cancer when combined with Taxol, an older chemotherapy drug.
Your treatment will depend on a number of factors, including the type of treatment you have received in the past, and the symptoms you are experiencing with the new cancer.
The treatment for women who have a distant recurrence in organs such as the lungs, brain, or bones is the same as for women whose cancer is diagnosed as stage IV (and involves those organs) at the time of initial diagnosis.
Expect your doctor to offer you systemic treatment, with chemotherapy, hormone therapy, or both. For women whose cancer cells have high levels of the HER2 protein, immunotherapy with Herceptin, alone or in combination with standard chemotherapy, is an option.
You may also need radiation or surgery to treat symptoms of your disease. Radiation therapy can be used to shrink tumors in the brain or in the bones. Bone metastases may also be treated with bisphosphonates, drugs that help prevent the breakdown of bone and may also prevent bone metastases in breast cancer patients.
Ask your doctor about taking part in clinical trials of promising treatments for metastatic disease.
Some women find that their treatment for metastatic disease is easier to tolerate than the chemotherapy they received during their first diagnosis with breast cancer. The emotional aspects of coping with advanced breast cancer may be more demanding than the medical treatment. SCCA has resources such as support groups, social workers, and pastors who are trained to provide the support you may need.