Metastatic Breast Cancer Treatment

There is a lot of research on metastatic breast cancer treatment and the progress is being made with each passing day. Breast cancer is one of the most common
cancer types. One in every 8 women is at risk of getting this cancer. And breast cancer accounts for 33% of cancer disease in women.

With a systemic Stage 4 breast cancer treatment, which is a metastatic breast cancer treatment method, patients can live with the disease for many years. Breast cancer occurs when milk ducts and lobules grow out of control. Metastatic breast cancer is known as the stage 4 or the final stage of breast cancer. In this case, the cancerous cells in the breast can spread to other organs or tissues near them.

What is Metastatic Breast Cancer Treatment?

A systemic drug therapy is the most commonly preferred method for the metastatic breast cancer treatment. Surgery, radiation therapy or regional chemotherapy can also be used depending on the patient’s condition, and to improve patient’s symptoms and quality of life.

Metastatic breast cancer treatment methods are as follows:

• Chemotherapy
• Radiation Therapy
• Biological Therapy
• Immunotherapy
• Hormonal Therapy
• Targeted Therapy
• Clinical research and treatments (clinical trials)

Triple Negative Breast Cancer Advanced Clinical Trials

Can Chemotherapy be Used in Metastatic Breast Cancer Treatment?

Chemotherapy is one of the first preferred methods for the metastatic breast cancer treatment. Chemotherapy is a treatment with drugs to destroy cancer cells in the body. Although it does not cure completely in the long term, it may prolong the patient’s life span.

During Stage 4 breast cancer treatment, the intensity and planning of chemotherapyare determined based on the patient’s extension of disease and tumor receptor status, as well as other biomarkers. For chemotherapy method to be applied, these are some examples of such cases:

• Women who have tumors resistant to hormonal drugs such as tamoxifen, aromatase inhibitors or CDK4/6 inhibitors, and have estrogen and/or progesterone receptor positive
• HER2 positive with estrogen receptor negative
• Women with estrogen and progesterone receptor negative and HER2 negative (triple negative cancer)
• In cases where hormonal treatments are still effective against estrogen receptor positive disease, and a rapid reduction in tumor is needed.

Radiation therapy and/or surgery as metastatic breast cancer treatment methods can be used in following cases:

• If the tumor causes an open wound in the tissue
• If the tumor has metastasized to the brain (surgery is done to remove brain tumor)
• To prevent further damage that may occur in bones
• If the metastasized site puts pressure on the spinal cord
• To suppress pain or other symptoms that may occur

What Are The Purposes Of Metastatic Breast Cancer Treatment?

In early-diagnosed (first-stage) breast cancers, chemotherapy and other treatment methods are mostly used to treat the disease with a curative intent. Surgical intervention, chemotherapy and hormonal treatments are applied in these patients.

The purposes are different in the metastatic breast cancer treatment. Chemotherapy is also used for different purposes in metastatic breast cancer. These goals are:

• To prolong the patient’s life span
• To relieve symptoms
• To increase the quality of life
• In short, these methods are not the definitive solutions for metastatic breast cancer. Clinical studies are ongoing for the Stage 4 breast cancer treatment. Some of these studies are focusing in specific biomarkers (e.g. PIK3CA, FGFR, BRCA)

With Massive Bio, you can access clinical trials on metastatic breast cancer treatment. Massive Bio helps you reach drug companies, research clinics and health centers that are right for you and your disease.