Metastatic Breast Cancer
Metastatic breast cancer is the last stage of breast cancer. Here the cancer cells have travelled to organs far off from the breast region. Needless to say, the cancer is very difficult to treat at this stage and more often than not therapies used now are simply targeting prolonging the patients life, rather than curing the cancer. Sadly, there are cases when women find out that they suffer from breast cancer only once it has reached this advanced stage. Indeed, the best tool in fighting this rather widespread cancer is awareness. Conducting periodic self checks will help identify the symptoms of breast cancer in its early stages. Physicians also recommend undergoing a mammography at least once a year especially for those women who have a history of cancer in their families. There are awareness programs like the pink ribbon, which are being encouraged all over the globe in an attempt to teach people more about this deadly cancer.
Tastatic breast cancer prognosis is a task that is best undertaken by a qualified physician. Depending on the size of the tumor, the distance that the cancer spreads have travelled to and even the stage that the cancer has reached, a team of doctors will try and guess exactly how the cancer shall progress and consequently effect the patient. For this prognosis, it is essential to grade the cancer cells. This is done by taking a few cells for biopsy and studying their behavior under various circumstances. Interestingly, it is this prognosis that shall decide the most suitable treatment for combating the cancer.
Metastatic breast cancer treatment involves chemotherapy and radiation mostly. Surgery is not an option since the cancer is not contained in one place but has spread almost all over the body. Indeed, operating at several sites is not possible. The treatments in these cases aims towards increasing the patient’s life.
Metastatic breast cancer survival is hardly possible. The chemotherapy and the radiation is unable to destroy all the cancer cells since they divide rather rapidly. It is said that breast cancer is the most common cause of death in women between 45years and 55 years of age, indeed an alarming statistic.
Metastatic breast cancer survival rate is indeed very low. Mostly the breast bone, the underarm lymph nodes, etc are affected rather badly with cancer cells. What makes the situation worse is that more often than not these cells are stuck together. It is estimated that women with the cancer have a 5 year survival rate.
Catching the cancer early is the one and only method of preventing the disease from overtaking our lives. Breast cancer is said to be the most common cancer after lung cancer and indeed needs attention. Preventing the disease before it transforms into metastatic breast cancer is the only hope in preventing the disease from turning fatal.