Every year, there are about 200,000 new cases of breast cancers and about 45,000 die from breast cancer in America according to the American Cancer Society. Metastatic breast cancer occurs when breast cancer spreads to other organs in the body. About 20% of patients diagnosed with breast cancers already develop metastatic breast cancers at the time of diagnosis. Most of metastatic breast cancers are recurrent cancers, in other words, they occur after the primary tumors in the breast are detected and treated. Metastatic breast cancer is a serious condition. Only 64% of patients with metastatic breast cancer survive after 1 year of diagnosis.
Instructions
1. Confirm that the patient indeed has metastatic cancer using a biopsy. Biopsy can also tell how the cancer evolves and spreads over time, which might affect the choice of treatment.
2. Set realistic goals for treatment. In most cases of metastatic breast cancer, cure is not possible. The objectives of treatment should focus on prolonging patient's life, improving patient's quality of life and minimizing side effects of treatment. The average survival for patients with metastatic breast cancer is 2 years.
3. Select an appropriate treatment option. The following factors must be taken into account when selecting treatment(s) for metastatic breast cancer: response rates of the tumor to treatments(s), number of metastatic sites, prognostic factors, patient's health and age, and risks of side effects.
4. Check for the presence of HER2 protein. Patients with HER2 may benefit from Herceptin, a targeted treatment.
5. Check for the presence of hormone receptors such as estrogen receptors or progesterone receptors. The presence of these receptors is an indication that cancer maybe susceptible to hormone treatment. Some breast cancers are estrogen dependent and require estrogen to grow and spread. These breast cancers produce estrogen receptor. Estrogen receptors are detected in more than 60 to 70% of breast cancer cases. Hormone therapy can help to prevent tumor growth and spread by removing the effects of estrogen on breast cancer cells. Hormone therapy is effective against metastatic breast cancers independent of where they are located in the body. Hormone therapy has fewer side effects in comparison to chemotherapy.
6. Select chemotherapy if the breast cancer has neither estrogen receptors nor progesterone receptors. The choice of drug for chemotherapy can be decided based on in vitro drug assays, which test whether growth of tumor cells (taken from a biopsy) is prevented by a particular drug.
7. Monitor patient with metastatic breast cancer closely to see whether a prescribed treatment is working or its side effects are tolerable. The methods for monitoring metastatic breast cancer include regular scans by x-ray, CT scan, or MRI, and blood tests to check for levels of circulating tumor cells or tumor markers such as carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA).
Tags: breast cancer, breast cancers, metastatic breast, breast cancer, metastatic breast cancer, side effects