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What Is The Treatment For Breast Cancer Metastasis?

Posted on Tue, 11 Mar 2014

Question: what is the best treatment for breast cancer metastasis in brain and after complete removal of tumor from right temporo parietal region with piece meal of dura. what is the prognosis

Answered by Dr. Indranil Ghosh (5 hours later)

Brief Answer: The outcome is not good Detailed Answer: Hi Thanks for your query. Unfortunately the disease has spread to the brain and this is not a curable situation. We can give radiation to the brain after this. We also need to look after the other sites in the body, whether they are affected or not. Chemotherapy may also be considered, but usually not much effective in the brain. If it turns out to be her2 positive, then lapatinib can be tried. The prognosis remains poor, less than a year survival on the average. Hope I have answered your query. I will be available to answer further followup queries, if any.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Indranil Ghosh (7 hours later)

sir as u have said prognosis is less than 1 year. but the entire tumor is removed and there is no spread elsewhere as per thr PET report, so is there a way for prolonged d survival by any other medicines?

Answered by Dr. Indranil Ghosh (2 hours later)

Brief Answer: please refer below Detailed Answer: What I said was average less than a year. In an individual patient it may be more or even less. However, brain spread is a poor prognostic sign as drugs do not reach brain in high concentrations. You can go through one representative study which showed that median survival of triple negative breast cancer patients with brain metastases is only 5 months (link: WWW.WWWW.WW . regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Indranil Ghosh (18 minutes later)

you sound too negative a doctor to be consulted when going through a lot of mental pain. the article states "this group of patients urgently need improved therapies" and you do not bother to inform and console by stating about such improved therapies. you're just making the pain worse rather than providing some kind of convincing solutions. anyways thanks...

Answered by Dr. Indranil Ghosh (32 minutes later)

Brief Answer: I fully understand your concern. Detailed Answer: But do we really have any such improved therapy? the answer is no. We also feel bad to let our patients and families to know the truth. But these are hard facts and cannot be denied. You may feel good if I give false reassurances but how will that help you in long run? So I never do that. I am really sorry if I could not give you any positive outlook.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar