Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Stage 4 Breast Cancer Treatment Options

Stage 4 of the breast cancer is a advance stage of breast cancer. AT this stage the cancer has spread in the body and affect the areas such as bones, brain, lungs and  liver. At this stage cancer becomes fatal Because different areas may be involved aim  treatments such as surgery or radiation alone are not adequate. As yet treatment of stage 4 breast cancer does not provide a cure for the disease. With shrinking the size of cancer treatment can drag the disease. It is usually life warn stage.


These are some of the most typical treatments for stage IV breast cancer:

Chemotherapy:Chemotherapy at this stage is the often main alternative.It can drag the growth of the cancer. chemotherapy is given by mouth as well as injected into a vein.Chemotherapy associates to the use of anti-cancer drugs to wipe out  breast cancer cells.


Chemotherapy can be used for three main objectives:
Adjuvant therapy(The aim of this therapy is to restrain cancer from coming back after the initial surgery and radiation).

Neo-adjuvant therapy(The aim of this therapy is to shrink the size of the cancer).

To treat metastatic disease(The aim of this therapy is to kill those cells of cancer which have spread to other parts of the body).

These are some effective medicines which are used in treatment of stage 4 breast cancer.
  • Anthracyclines
  • Taxanes
  • Cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan)
  • Capecitabine (Xeloda)
  • Vinorelbine (Navelbine)
  • Gemcitabine (Gemzar)
  • Trastuzumab (Herceptin)
Hormonal Therapy:Hormonal therapy at this stage abolishes hormones or blocks their action and stops cancer cells from building.Hormonal therapy can help women with hormone receptor-positive cancers.Hormones are substances produced by glands in the body and circulated in the bloodstream.Hormone therapy is given to stop the body's consistently transpiring estrogen and effort against  the cancer's growth.

Few hormonal therapies for stage 4

Tamoxifen(Tamoxifen can be used in women of any age.Durable use of this anti-estrogen drug has been found to reduce the chance of breast cancer re occurrence).

Aromatase Inhibitors(In this procedure aromatase inhibitors are use.Aromatase inhibitors are very adequate in treating breast cancer  both in early stage and advanced disease).

Arimidex (Chemical name anastrozole.Aromatase inhibitor used to treat estrogen receptor positive breast cancer in postmenopausal women).

Aromasin (Chemical name exemestane.It is used for women with early breast cancer after 2 to 3 years of tamoxifen treatment this medication is used to treat certain types of breast cancer like hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer).


Biological Therapy :

This therapy initiates the body's own immune or hormonal system to act on cancer cells  while leaving healthy cells relatively intact..One action is to use antibodies to attack cancer cells or block their activities. An antibody is a protein that can fix to specific proteins in the body, called antigens. Antibodies can be natural or made artificially as well. It stops the harmful protein from making the cancer grow and makes chemotherapy more effective.Antibodies can be natural and as well made artificially. One example of a artificial antibody is trastuzumab or Herceptin.

Herceptin can act in three ways to stop cancer cells from growing
It  clogs to special receptors on the cancer cells stopping from arising.
It indicates the body's own immune system to attack on  the cancer cells.
It can effort  with chemotherapy preventing cancer cells damaged by chemo from reforming themselves.

Surgical procedure:

Surgical procedure at this stage is used in some cases.This treatment is not used to cure the cancer But may help in reducing pain and other symptoms in areas where the cancer has spread.

Radiation therapy(Radio therapy):

At this stage radiation therapy is also used in some cases.This treatment is not used to cure the cancer But may help in reducing pain it is also use to treat cancer that has spread into the bones and brain.

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