Stage Four Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is seen in more woman than any other kind of cancer. Stage four breast cancer is one of the most dangerous and debilitating types. There is only a five year survival rate of 20 percent for stage four breast cancer.

This stage of breast cancer is considered an invasive cancer, which means that tumors are far more likely to spread to other parts of your body. It is also a metastatic type of cancer. That means that by the time it has reached this stage, the cancer has metastasized to at least one other area of your body. In other words, the cancer cells have gone past the affected breast and lymph nodes located under the arm. They keep growing and multiplying in the areas to which they have spread. It is very common for stage four breast cancer to spread cells to the bones, the lungs, and the liver.

For quite a long time, there was no cure for this stage. Oncologists simply tried to prolong a stage four patient’s life and diminish the pain. Fairly recently, a lot of important medical advances have been made and there are now more treatment options for stage four best cancer. One of these is taxane chemotherapy. Other methods include targeted therapies and more intensive drugs that rely on hormonal therapy. Under certain circumstances, mastectomies are also recommended.

The fourth stage of breast cancer sometimes occurs because the cancer has come back after an ultimately temporary treatment and remission. Because the survival rate for this type of breast cancer is so low, it is vital that you regularly go in for breast exams and mammograms, and that you give yourself exams at home. This is especially true if a number of the women in your family have a history of breast cancer, either stage four breast cancer or otherwise.