Current Medical Treatment in the US for Stage IV Breast Cancer

Stage 4 breast cancer is also known as metastasized cancer, and when the disease reaches this stage it is considered incurable by medical professionals. A diagnosis of metastasized cancer, however, does not mean the situation is hopeless and that all treatment should end. On the contrary, treatments in Stage 4 can add years to the life expectancy of some breast cancer victims, while also bringing relief from pain and an improved quality of life.

Overall, about 20% of women with metastasized breast cancer survive longer than five years. Lasting remissions of the disease are also not unheard of, and though this is relatively rare some women can be symptom-free for significant periods of time. While a number like 20% can seem discouraging, this 20% represents millions of women who have been able to spend several more years in the company of their loved ones even after receiving the difficult news that their disease had reached the final stage.

Standard Strategies of Resistance
Metastasized breast cancer is cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, including the brain, bones, liver and lungs. It is this spreading of the disease that makes a true cure essentially impossible, and the recommended modalities of treatment are now used to try and extend life as long as possible, while hopefully bringing some relief from the pain and suffering associated with Stage 4 breast cancer. Chemotherapy is used to shrink the size of the tumor and at least slow down its spread, either alone or in combination with hormonal therapy when the breast cancer is of the type that uses the body’s hormones as a food source. Hormonal therapy can involve the uses of drugs that interfere with the hormone-absorption process, or the ovaries can be removed in premenopausal women to cut off the hormone supply at the source. Drugs called aromatase inhibitors are effective in cutting off the flow of estrogen in postmenopausal women, as it is estrogen that feeds the cancer cells at this stage. In 2004, a new drug treatment was prescribed as a primary defense for women with Stage 4 breast cancer, involving the use of a combination of two powerful cancer drugs called Taxol and Gemzar.

Surgery and/or radiation therapy are another way that cancerous tissue can be removed from the breast area when cancers have metastasized. If a full mastectomy had not been performed previously, there is a good chance this procedure will be used at this stage. Again, this is done not to affect a cure, but to slow the spread and the depredations of the cancer to reduce suffering and extend life span.