I’ve had MBC for 10 years —diagnosed when I was 62. My first occurrence (stage 2B) was in 1994 when I was 40.. It’s good to defy the odds!
March 22
Can most women with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer live past 5 years or more, especially if responding well to treatment?
About one-third of women with metastatic breast cancer live five years or more after diagnosis, and some have lived more than 10 years. While this means it's not "most" women, the outlook has been Show Full Answer
Can most women with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer live past 5 years or more, especially if responding well to treatment?
About one-third of women with metastatic breast cancer live five years or more after diagnosis, and some have lived more than 10 years. While this means it's not "most" women, the outlook has been improving significantly as treatments advance.
If you're responding well to treatment, that's a positive sign. The longer someone survives with metastatic breast cancer, the longer they're likely to continue living with it - this is called conditional survival.
Several factors can affect your individual outlook:
* Your age at diagnosis
* The type and subtype of your breast cancer
* Where the cancer has spread
* How well your cancer responds to treatment
* Whether your cancer develops resistance to treatment
The goal of treatment is to keep your cancer stable for as long as possible while maintaining your quality of life. Treatments continue to improve - studies show that median overall survival increased from 21 months to 38 months between 1990 and 2010, and advances have continued since then.
Your oncologist can give you a better sense of your personal prognosis based on your specific situation and how you're responding to treatment.
March 21
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