Hello.
You have asked a difficult question.
Life expectancy depends on various factors.
1. Extent of
tumor spread. Mets decrease life expectancy
2. Response to the treatment: Response to treatment increase life expectancy.
3. General condition of the patient. Better general condition of the patient = more life expectancy.
4. Type of the tumor.
5. Site of metastasis etc.
So better answer can be given if we have more information.
You have stage 4
breast cancer (breast cancer + mets = Stage 4).
According to american cancer society 5 year survial with stage 4 breast cancer is 22%.
Again, i want to say that, breast cancer responses well to the
chemotherapy. If you are responding to the treatment then discuss with your doctor what can you do to avoid the side effects. I have seen some patients whose 5-8 cm breast tumors vanished with the help of chemotherapy alone, (Later mastectomies of those patients were done to avoid re-growth).
Discuss with your doctor, life expectancy can be increased considerably with treatment because breast cancer responses well to the chemotherapy and radiations.
I wish you well, and if you have more questions in your mind, i would gladly address them.
Takecare.
Dr Adil Ramzan.