What treatments are used for metastatic breast cancer?
When breast cancer has metastasized, it may be treated with chemotherapy, radiation therapy, biological therapy, hormone therapy, surgery, cryosurgery, or a combination of these. The choice of treatment generally depends on the type of primary cancer, the size and location of the metastasis, the patient’s age and general health, and the types of treatments the patient has had in the past. In patients with CUP (cancer of unknown primary origin), it is possible to treat the disease even though the primary tumor has not been located. The goal of treatment may be to control the cancer, or to relieve symptoms or side effects of treatment.
