The stage 4 breast cancer prognosis leaves many women feeling just powerless especially if her cancer is found to have been diagnosed at this later stage. The Stage 4 breast cancer prognosis and its survival rate usually depend on several things. The treatment, kind of cancer, genetics and lifestyle all of them plays a significant role.
Breast cancer usually starts in breast ducts as the ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Once the disease extends out of the breast area, it often spreads fast to its axillary underarm lymph nodes. During the breast surgery, the lymph nodes are removed so as to determine whether the nodes are occupied or not.
In some of the cases, the breast cancer is often found to have spread to the other parts of the body without even linking to the axillary lymph nodes. If cancerous tumor is situated in the middle part of the breast or close to the nipple then chances remains that it can spread to the interior mammary nodes as well that are situated between the ribs and also under the sternum.
In few cases, the cancer can spread through bloodstream without even being discovered by the lymphatic system. In about 10% of the breast cancer diagnosis, it is seen that the cancer before getting diagnosed has spread to the other organs of the body.
Stage 4 breast cancer prognosis can indicate the rapid progression of this cancerous disease that was present in the body undetected in the breast for a long time. The metastatic breast cancer or the stage 4 breast cancer can also occur due to the recurrence of the breast cancer disease after an initial treatment.
There are specially 3 types of the breast cancer recurrences- regional, local and the distant. Both regional and local recurrences are diagnosed to be less serious than the distant recurrences. It can get detected by the mammogram. Such abnormalities can be noticed with the breast images tests like the T-scan or the ultrasound scan.
Once the regional or local recurrences are detected, it will be time for the medical practitioners to order a variety of further tests. These tests are to determine the extent of the cancer or whether it has been metastasized or spread to the other body parts or organs. Few of these tests include bone scan, MRI scan, CAT scan, chest X-ray and the blood tests.
The tumor marker or the blood tests are undertaken to measure the non-specific markers which are normally found in blood. The two markers for the breast cancer are the CA 15-3 and CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen). These are markers which tend to have been elevated in the females with symptoms of metastatic breast cancer. These tests are not at all sensitive. However, they are not found to be useful with patients having the early-stage of breast cancer.
The carcinoembryonic antigen or the CEA is one marker for the breast or for the other cancer recurrence. This is one special protein which is actually formed in the embryonic cells and in the regenerating cells and lastly in the cancer cells as well. The protein is generally found on the cell surface and may be measured in the given blood tests as the cells are found to drop these proteins.
Earlier, the above markers were used to monitor the patient after any treatment for the disease. Any rise in the given level indicates the requirement to search for another cancer recurrence. This CEA level may be elevated in several other benign conditions which are non-cancerous. Some of them may include colon polyps, stomach ulcers as among the other causes.