The stage of breast cancer when cancer cells do not remain in the original cancer site and spread out to other parts of the body is called metastatic breast cancer. This is the stage when the cancer is fully advanced. Even if you have been successfully treated for breast cancer, there is a chance that some cancer cells do not die, and later spread out through blood and lymphatic vessels to other body organs. This process is known as metastasis of breast cancer.



Metastatic breast cancer can either recur, that is, the treatment for breast cancer may have completed, but the cancer cells that escaped from being killed make the cancer recur, or may happen during the course of treatment, when the cancer is so aggressive that it spreads out despite of the treatments, or, in some cases when diagnosis is very late, and the cancer has spread out, metastatic might be the very first diagnosis.

Unfortunate as it may be, breast cancer has the maximum chances of metastasizing. When this happens, bones, and organs like the lungs and brain starts showing abnormal changes, which means they're starting to develop cancer cell growth. If you get lung cancer or liver cancer or any other cancer after getting breast cancer, it is probably just breast cancer metastasis and not a new cancer. This is good news, since breast cancer has low mortality rates and can be treated. However, if the new cancer if in the breast which did not have cancer previously, it may be a new cancer.

It is very important to know about metastatic breast cancer because around 30% of women with breast cancer are later diagnosed with metastatic cancer. Metastatic breast cancer is best treatable when no organ, specifically the lungs and brain, develop cancer, or when the cancer cells show traces of estrogen or progesterone hormone receptors, or, when tumors still respond to therapies, or when there have not been many treatments the patient has already availed.

Metastatic breast cancer, owing to its nature, requires extensive treatment. Therapies like chemotherapy, hormonal treatment, immune therapy alone with regular mammograms, ultrasounds, CT scans, MRIs, bone scans etc. are necessary. The treatments can be purpose-specific. For treating the whole body, systemic therapies have to be implemented; for treatment of specific organs, local treatments like mastectomy and lumpectomy are done, and for alleviating pain, therapies along with oral aspirin intake are adopted.

A lot of research is going into slowing down and completely stopping further advancement of metastatic breast cancer. Even though this is the worst phase of your cancer, it is important that you know that many women with the metastatic disease have lived happily and normally while taking their treatment. You will have to decide when to end your treatment, for the higher the number of treatments you take, the higher the side-effects. This decision is the hardest to take, but you will know you have tried everything, prolonged your life as much as you could have. Spend the rest of your life being happy, and taking regular medication. Happiness is known for prolonging life, too.