Treatment

Treatment

The aim of treatment for secondary breast cancer is to:

• Control and/or slow down the rate the cancer can spread
• Relieve symptoms
• Give you the best quality of life possible by helping you to maintain your health and wellbeing

There are different treatment options available for secondary breast cancer such as hormone therapy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and targeted therapies.

The treatment we recommend to you will be based on different factors such as any new information we may have about your cancer, any previous treatment you have received, the location of the secondary breast cancer site and your general health, together with any medical conditions or current medication you may be taking.

Your oncologist will involve you in all the decisions to be made about your treatment and your nurse specialist will support you in your understanding of the treatment aims, possible side effects and your treatment pathway.

Your response to treatment will be regularly reviewed and we use a variety of methods to assess your response, such as bone scans and CT scans.

If at any time during your treatment and follow-up you become concerned about new and persistent changes, please do not hesitate to contact the clinical nurse specialists who can arrange for you to have an earlier follow-up appointment.

Your CNS Team and The Macmillan Information Centre at your hospital have access to numerous publications and patient information on treatment, so please ask if you require any further information or you can access this information directly from: https://www.macmillan.org.uk

Stopping treatment

For some patients, there comes a time when a shared decision is made to stop treatment.

This may be because you no longer wish to continue with treatment due to side effects reducing your quality of life, it may be due to the cancer spreading significantly that means treatment will no longer be effective, or possibly because you become too unwell on treatment and the side effects of your treatment would put you at an increased risk of becoming very unwell.

Whatever the reason is to stop treatment, your oncologist and nurse specialist will fully support you and ensure you have adequate support at home to help with any practical issues or to manage any ongoing side effects or symptoms you may have.

All patients are given an open appointment to allow them to see their oncologist again if they have any concerns or symptoms that are not managed in the community.

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