Skip to main content

Common Sites Of Metastasis In Breast Cancer - Symptoms - Diagnosis and Treatment -



The Term metastasis means spread of cancers cells to distant sites away from the site where cancer has first appeared.

Breast Cancer can be metastasized.
Breast cancer can be speared to axillary lymph nodes and grows in size there. 
Breast cancer can spread to almost any part of the body but the most common sites are bones followed by lungs and liver.



Symptoms of metastatic breast cancer may include:

  • Bone pain (possible indication of bone metastases)
  • Shortness of breath (possible indication of lung metastases)
  • Lack of appetite (possible indication of liver metastases)
  • Weight loss (possible indication of liver metastases)
  • Neurological pain or weakness, headaches (possible indications of neurological metastases)
These symptoms are sometimes but not always associated with metastatic breast cancer, and having one or more of these symptoms does not necessarily mean a woman has metastatic breast cancer. Most women whose breast cancer has metastasized do not show symptoms until the disease is extensive.
Approximately 25% of breast cancers spread first to the bone. The bones of the spine, ribs, pelvis, skull, and long bones of the arms and legs are most often affected.


Diagnosis of Metastasis Can be confirmed by following tests

  1. Bone Scan
  2. Chest X-ray
  3. MRI scan
  4. CT scan
  5. Blood Tests.
In certain cancer blood express, some new chemical compounds called tumour cell markers. e.g alpha-fetoprotein which increases in liver cell carcinoma. PSA, prostate-specific antigen, ( increase in prostate cancer ) 
similarly in Breast cancer CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen) concentration increases. 
However, the CEA level can also be elevated in a number of benign (non-cancerous) conditions. Some of these include stomach ulcers, colon polyps, cigarette smoking,

Treatment Options: 
Treatment options include supportive therapy and administration of drugs that reduce the symptoms.
Aredia is an FDA-approved drug used to treat some patients with advanced breast cancer. It is administered intravenously (through a vein) along with other cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy. Clinical studies have shown that breast cancer patients with bone metastases who are given Aredia tend to experience a delay in or reduction of bone pain, fractures, and other bone complications compared to patients who do not receive Aredia. Possible side effects of Aredia include fever, fatigue, nausea and vomiting, initial bone pain, lack of appetite, and anaemia

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Human Parasites, Types of Parasites, and Classification

Parasite: A parasite is a living organism which gets nutrition and protection from another organism where it lives. Parasites enter into the human body through mouth, skin and genitalia. In this article, we will generally discuss the types and classification of parasites. It is important from an academic point of view. Those parasites are harmful, which derives their nutrition and other benefits from the host and host get nothing in return but suffers from some injury. Types of Parasites Ecto-parasite: An ectoparasite lives outside on the surface of the body of the host. Endo-parasite: An endo-parasite lives inside the body of the host, it lives in the blood, tissues, body cavities, digestive tract or other organs. Temporary parasite: A temporary parasite visits its host for a short period of time. Permanent parasite: Permanent parasite lives its whole life in the host. Facultative parasite: A facultative parasite can live both independently and dependently. It lives in the

How to taper off, wean off beta blocker, atenolol, Propranolol, Metoprolol

Beta blockers include, atenolol (Tenormin), propranolol (Inderal ) and metoprolol (Lopressor) and are used to treat high blood pressure, certain cardiac problems, migraine and few other conditions. People usually take atenolol, propranolol or metoprolol for many years as a treatment of high blood pressure or after having an episode of heart attack . Sometimes, it becomes necessary to withdraw these beta blockers due to their potential side effects that trouble the patients or sometimes doctor wants to change the drug and shift the patient to some other anti-hypertensive medicine. No matter whatever the cause is, whenever, a patient who has been using a beta blocker for a long period of time, and he needs to be stopped from further usage of that beta blocker, must not stop taking it. One should taper off the dose of a beta blocker. Now a question arises how to wean off or taper off a beta blocker? The method of tapering off beta blocker varies from individual to individual. Allow you

Difficulty in standing up from a sitting or squatting position, Causes & Solution

People who feel it difficult to stand up from a sitting or squatting position may have problem in one or more of the following structures. 1. Knee joint 2. Muscles of legs, thighs or buttock 3. Muscles of arms 4. Cerebellum Let’s now explain one by one, what kind of problems in above structures may cause difficulty in standing up from a sitting or squatting position. 1. How do problems in knee joints lead to difficulty in standing up? Knee joint is one of the primary and most affected joint that takes part in standing up. Other joints that take part are hip, ankle, knee, elbow, wrist and shoulder joint. Knee joint gets the most strain , and also knee joint is comparatively less supported. That’s why usually it’s the knee joint that starts to cry first because of arthritis. Knee joint arthritis causes long term knee pain , that makes the movement difficult at knee joint. Arthritis also makes the knee joint stiffer and slower and its range of motion also decreases. All these affects coll