Breast Cancer Survival Rates - Stage Four Breast Cancer
The Whole Truth and Nothing by The Truth on the Survival Rates
Stage 4 breast cancers are so advanced and aggressive that they render, in most cases, surgery and/or radiation impotent. This type of cancer is mainly characterized by its wide spread and coverage beyond the breast and lymph nodes to the other parts of the body. This is why surgery, which removes specific parts of human tissue, is not a useful form of treatment at this stage.
For Stage 4 breast cancer it is important to consider systemic therapy and is usually the main treatment of cancer at this very late stage.
Treatments for stage 4 cancer can range from chemotherapy, hormone therapy and trastuzumap (Herceptin) or bevacizumab (Avastin), or a systemized combination of the aforementioned treatments.
Survival rates for stage 4 breast cancer are very dismal at best. The five-year survival rate for stage 4 breast cancer ranges only from 16% to 20%.
Statistics show that 5% of white women in the United States and approximately 10% to 11% of black women have advanced breast cancer spread to other tissues at the time when they had their first diagnosis. Sadly, women who have stage 4 breast cancer live approximately 18 months after diagnosis. Those who live more than 5 years have lived an additional 3 to 4 years.
Doctors and surgeons continuously stress the importance of early detection. At the very least, women over the age of 20 should begin to have regular checkups (at the very least every 3 years) to make sure that breast cancer can be detected as early as stage 1 or stage 2. Otherwise, the cancer may reach its advanced form (stage 4) and by that time it may already be too late.
The data for this article is taken from The U.S. National Cancer Institute.