Chemotherapy and metastatic breast cancer

These may include:. For people with metastatic breast cancer, chemotherapy is used to kill cancer cells that have spread from the breast to other parts of the body. Doctors usually treat metastatic breast cancer in any part of the body with systemic medicines, which treat cancer throughout the entire body.

We can connect you with trained cancer information specialists who will answer questions about a cancer diagnosis and provide guidance and a compassionate ear.

Chemotherapy and breast cancer

When breast cancer spreads, it most commonly goes to the bones, liver, and lungs. An immunotherapy drug along with chemotherapy might be used in people with advanced triple-negative breast cancer whose tumor makes the PD-L1 protein. If this happens, other drugs might be tried.

Breast Cancer.

Chemotherapy for Metastatic Breast

Chemotherapy drugs and hormone drugs are also very helpful in treating these cancers. As a result, it can be an effective option for destroying cancerous cells that have spread outside of their original location (e.g., to the lungs, liver or brain).

For women with stage IV breast cancer, systemic drug therapies are the main treatments. We connect patients, caregivers, and family members with essential services and resources at every step of their cancer journey. Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment, meaning that it affects the entire body.

Women with hormone estrogen or progesterone receptor-positive cancers are sometimes treated first with hormone therapy tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor.

Chemotherapy for Metastatic Breast

Some of the topics we can assist with include:. Chemotherapy can be used to slow the spread of metastatic breast cancer and reduce the size of any tumors that have formed. Treatment can often shrink tumors or slow their growthimprove symptoms, and help some women live longer.

These women are typically treated with a targeted drug called a PARP inhibitor, such as olaparib or talazoparib.

Systemic Treatment of Patients

Despite this. Your gift helps fund crucial, lifesaving research and support for those facing breast cancer. Ask us how you can get involved and support the fight against cancer. The types of drugs used for stage IV breast cancer depend on the hormone receptor status, the HER2 status of the cancer, and sometimes gene mutations that might be found.

If the cancer grows, other options might include:. These cancers are considered incurable. Women with stage IV breast cancer are most often treated with hormone therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, or some combination of these.

Chemotherapy can increase survival and reduce symptoms related to the cancer. It may also spread to the brain or other organs. To guide clinicians and policymakers in three global resource-constrained settings on treating patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) when Maximal setting–guideline recommended treatment is unavailable.

Treatment of Stage IV

When depends on receptor status, previous treatments, and more. Chemotherapy is used as a treatment for most people with metastatic breast cancer. Stage IV cancers have spread metastasized beyond the breast and nearby lymph nodes to other parts of the body.

Local treatments that target a specific part of the body, such as surgery or radiation, are sometimes recommended. If the initial hormone therapy stops working, another type can be tried, often along with a targeted drug such everolimus, a PI3K inhibitor such as alpelisib Piqray or inavolisib Itovebior an AKT inhibitor such as capivasertib Truqapif the cancer cells have certain gene changes.

Surgery or radiation might be used to help prevent or treat symptoms. To that end, a wide array of chemotherapy agents are currently available for the treatment of MBC. To date, there has been considerable progress in the understanding of the molecular underpinnings of breast cancer, which has led to the development of targeted agents.

The PD-L1 protein is found is about 1 in 5 women with triple-negative breast cancer. For breast cancers that are considered HER2-low and have spread to distant sites, the antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan Enhertu might be an option.

Chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, targeted therapies, and immunotherapy are all systemic medications.

Treatment for Metastatic Breast

Hormone therapy might be added to these drug combinations if the cancer is also hormone-receptor positive. Abstract Historically, metastatic breast cancer (MBC) was primarily treated with surgery and chemotherapy. The first therapy given is usually chemotherapy in combination with trastuzumab Herceptin, other names and pertuzumab Perjetaboth HER2 targeted drugs.

Treatment often continues until the cancer starts growing again or until side effects become unacceptable.