A woman with cancer that has moved to the lymph system – also given the medical term metastasized – or into other parts of the body has a five-year survival rate of 21 percent. When breast cancer is in the metastasized stage, where the cancer cells keep on multiplying and growing, it is considered to be in its most advanced stage, which can also be referred to as stage IV.

Almost every area of a person’s body is susceptible to developing breast cancer. Oncologists say that typically the most common area or region of the body to which breast cancer will spread is the bone. The next two most common regions are the liver and the lungs. Though these areas of the body are not considered to be a common risk for developing the disease, breast cancer may infect the bone marrow, brain, ovaries, spinal cord, and the eye.
The cancer has already travelled to other organs or regions of the body in and estimated 10 percent of breast cancer diagnoses. A primary diagnosis of metastatic or advanced breast cancer is likely to indicate a fast spreading of the disease. It might also indicate that although the cancer was present in the body, it was not found in the breast.

Oncologists say that there is a significant possibility for advanced breast cancer to come about due to a return of breast cancer after the patient’s initial treatment. Metastatic or advanced breast cancer treatment comes usually in the form of providing relief of the symptoms and, hopefully, extending the patient’s life.
Cancer is one of those words most people hope to never hear in relation to themselves or someone about whom the care. It is obvious that no one is ever happy about receiving this diagnosis but in the case of breast cancer, hearing the words does not always mean imminent death.

Of course there are a multitude of factors that can have an effect on a woman’s prognosis for surviving breast cancer. The good news is that the mortality rate for the disease of breast cancer has steadily declined at a rate of more than 2 percent each year since 1990. These rates will most likely continue to drop as doctors discover new and improved methods for treating this ugly disease.

The American Cancer Society says that in order to best detect breast cancer in the early, most curable stages, people (especially women) should perform monthly breast self-examinations, schedule clinical breast exams every year and beginning at the age of 40, schedule an annual mammogram.
The disease of breast cancer is brought on by the formation in the tissues of the breast of malignant (cancer-causing) cells. It is the type of disease that medical terminology calls heterogeneous, meaning that its occurrence will vary depending on the individual, age group and the types of cells inside the malignant tumors themselves.

In the United States, breast cancer is diagnosed in women at a rate higher than almost every other form of cancer, the exception being skin cancer. Another reality about breast cancer is that it is the second leading cause of death in women next to lung cancer.
Some of the other sad facts related to breast cancer are that the National Breast Cancer Foundation estimates that about 200,000 women are diagnosed with having this disease each and every year. Of these women, there will be more than 40,000 who will not survive their battle.
The disease of breast cancer can also attack men. The National Breast Cancer Foundation states that about 1,700 men are diagnosed with the disease annually and more than 450 of these men will succumb to its deadly symptoms.

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