Skip to main content

Breast Cancer - when does it spread?

Picture cancer spreading
Article Date: 20 Jun 2012 

According to a study published in theMedical Journal of Australia, important information regarding prognosis can now be given to women who are diagnosed with early breast cancer. 

Dr Sarah Lord from the NHMRC Clinical Trials Center at the University of Sydney and her team note that in Australia, 1 in 10 women diagnosed with non-metastaticbreast cancer will develop metastatic cancerwithin five years. However, this figure increases to 1 in 6 women if the cancer has metastasized to adjacent tissue or nearby lymph nodes.

The researchers set out to determine how many women diagnosed with non-metastatic breast cancer develop the metastatic form of the disease by examining 6,644 NSW women who were diagnosed between 2001 and 2002. 

The women were classified into two groups: 

Localized - women with nodenegative tumor confined to breast tissue
Regional - those with spread to adjacent tissues or nearby lymph nodes

Although the risk of metastatic disease was 10% for both groups, the researchers found that only 1 in 20 women with localized cancer subsequently developed metastatic breast cancer (MBC) within 5 years.

According to the researchers, the study findings show that, in addition to underlying tumor biology, the spread of disease at diagnosis continues to be a vital prognostic factor. They explain: "Clinicians can use these estimates to inform women with breast cancer about the average risks of developing MBC."

The team found that women under 50 years of age and those living in areas of lower socio-economic status had the highest risk of developing MBC. Furthermore, women were more likely to be diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in the second year after initial breast cancer diagnosis.

The researchers said: "This information may provide some reassurance for women who completed their primary breast cancer treatment more than 2 years ago and remain recurrence free." 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

"Hard nipples" - areola or nipple skin

Someone once wrote"... when i get really cold, or get goosebumbs all over my body, the whole things really scrunch up, like, my entire areola scrunches itself up into a wrinkled little mound. it looks really weird and ugly, and i haven't ever seen other people's breasts do it. what is wrong with my areola/nipples??" The answer: Well nothing is wrong. This is what my areola does too. It's a normal reaction to the coldness or to irritation / stimulation. The little muscles in the areola do a similar goosebump thing as your other skin can do. People often call this phenomenon "hard nipples". Also note that skin on areola has less feeling or sensation to it than other areas of your body. If the areola was very sensitive, then breastfeeding would probably be quite uncomfortable because the baby pulls and tugs it! The nipples are sensitive but the sensitivity changes with hormonal changes, such as occur at mestrual cycle or pregnancy. Also this v...

Ground breaking cancer Carctol Capsule in India with Dr.Vipin Tiwari

Sharing is caring and also very important to keep up with what’s happening in the world. Cancer news we see everyday! This is something I am very very excited about : Changing the future and also saving lives. Sound too good to be true well it’s not the research that has gone into this product is brilliant. Please check out Dr.Vipin Tiwari he is working in India. I was really happy he contacted me to share this product. So I want to share it also with you all. The mission: MISSION "Our mission is to offer products as well as services of the highest professional standards in order to make the whole world Cancer Free." The people at Dr. Nandlal Tiwari Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. are focused on researching the power of ayurveda, bring up natural medicines & therapies and spread it all over the world for the benfit of mankind. We work hard to bring smiles on hopeless patients of Cancer. With successful records in past and dedication of our employees we are con...

Loosing a parent!

When a Parent Dies: Dealing with the Loss of Your Mother or Father By David Kessler This is spot on. I guess until you go through this you will never know.  #parents #love #grief #davidkessler #survivor #iamstillawoman  When a parent of an adult dies, there is almost an unspoken expectation that it will not hit you head on. An adult is expected to accept death as a part of life, to handle all sudden losses in an appropriate adult manner. But really, what does that mean? That you should not be sad? That you should be so grateful they didn’t die when you were a child that you don’t need to mourn your parent? The above considerations demonstrate an under-estimation of grief. Grief is the reflection of the connection that has been lost. That loss does not diminish because you are an adult or because your mother or father lived a long life. Our society places enormous pressure on us to get over loss, to get through the grief. But how long do you grieve for the man who...