Breast Cancer Stage
Can you survive stage 4 breast cancer?
I just found out that my aunt has moved to stage 4 breast cancer that has spread to his liver, lymnode, legs, neck, etc. I do not know much about cancer and all you really want to know is what the rate of survival when has reached stage 4? The doctors plan of Chemo therapy.
Stage 4 breast cancer has spread beyond the breast and lymph nodes close to other body parts. In stage IV breast cancer, cancer has spread elsewhere in the body. Affected areas may include bone, brain, lungs or liver. Because multiple areas may be involved, focused treatments such as surgery or radiation alone are not enough. Until now, treatment of stage IV breast cancer do not not offer a cure for the disease. By reducing the cancer, treatment can slow the disease, feel better, and let you live longer. Although patients with IV breast cancer may live for years, it is usually life threatening at some point. Many factors influence this * chemotherapy or treatment with anticancer drugs is often the main treatment. You can stop cancer growth. Chemotherapy is used often in combination with hormonal therapy or immunotherapy. * Hormone therapy may be critical for women with hormone receptor-positive cancers. These are cancers that hormones need to grow. Tamoxifen has been used to block the effects of estrogen for decades. But new drugs such as inhibitors aromatase, Femara and Arimidex, and Aromasin aromatase inactivator, also show great promise. Reduce the amount of estrogen your body produces. Cutting off the supply estrogen, the cancer can be stifling and slow. Women who have not reached menopause may find that your ovaries to stop making the hormones that the help cancer grow. * Biologic therapy is a new approach. In about 25% of women with breast cancer, an excess of a protein known as HER2, causes cancer spread quickly. Herceptin is a drug that is approved to treat women with metastatic breast cancer that is HER2-positive. Stops of this protein to make cancer cells grow. You can also boost your immune system, giving you the strength to fight the cancer itself. It is most often used in combination with chemotherapy. * Clinical trials are open to many women with stage IV cancer. A clinical trial may allow access to cutting-edge treatments. Many new therapies – new drugs, new treatments and new combinations – are now in clinical trials. Note that any successful treatment that we have now started a clinical trial. The surgery and radiotherapy are used in some cases. These treatments are used to cure cancer. But they can help treat pain and other symptoms in areas where cancer has spread. * Other drugs may also help treat some of the effects secondary breast cancer treatment, such as nausea, fatigue, and infections.
