Metastatic Breast Cancer

Five years ago, I was stricken with metastatic breast cancer. This heartbreaking diagnosis came not long after I finished treatment for early stage, HER2+ cancer.

O’Shaughnessy highlighted a group of agents that encompasses entirely new ideas and new options for patients as well as novel avenues from follow-up data from clinical trials.

CURE speaks with Joyce O’Shaughnessy, MD, on the rise of treatment options for patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive metastatic breast cancer.

In this issue of CURE magazine, we review the current approaches for the evaluation and treatment of metastatic breast cancer, and what the future holds.

After a median follow-up of 10 months, the overall response rate in patients with PD-L1-expressing metastatic breast cancer was 33.3 percent.

An academically trained skeptic, this single project has turned me into a raving optimist.

In terms of both treatment and the emotional perspective of patients, metastatic breast cancer is different from other stages of the disease.

I led a fairly charmed life up until about the age of 29. Life just always seemed to work out for me. I was the gal who had a flat tire 100 yards from the tire shop.

If demanding to be involved in treatment decisions is considered defiant, I'll be defiantly alive.

Expecting to live is more pleasant than expecting to die.

I feel hurt and sad that my father is not there for me. I need to focus on and cherish my family of the heart.

Terminal illness is like watching a bus barreling toward you and you're stuck in the road. The least you can do is make the wait enjoyable.

Finding spiritual comfort in the midst of cancer, it can be done.

The balance between living and living with cancer sometimes comes down to taking short medical breaks just to go on with your day.

First-line treatment with Tykerb and a taxane failed to improve progression-free survival versus Herceptin plus a taxane in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Saying goodbye to a friend in the middle of a shared cancer diagnosis can challenge the soul.

Living in denial is sometimes not such a bad idea, especially when it comes to cancer.

Metastatic breast cancer will strike 30% of all breast cancer survivors yet only 2% of funds go to research this deadly cancer.

Richard Finn, of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA and lead investigator of the PALOMA-1 study, explains the clinical implications of Ibrance's approval for hormone-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.

The anticipated approval of Ibrance (palbociclib) came two months ahead of expectations, as the FDA granted an accelerated approval to the drug as a frontline treatment for women with ER-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.

When was your last truly remarkable New Year's Eve?

The mental challenges of having stage 4 breast cancer are just as overwhelming as the physical ones.

Two HER2-targeting regimens anchored by Kadcyla (T-DM1) failed to outperform the standard strategy of Herceptin plus chemotherapy in women newly diagnosed with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer.

Faslodex (fulvestrant) improved overall survival by nearly six months compared with anastrozole as initial hormone therapy for postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive advanced breast cancer, according to findings from the phase 2 FIRST trial.