What is metastatic breast cancer and how to recognize its symptoms?

"I felt hypochondriac to go to the doctor all the time," he says.

His symptoms began with irregularities in menstruation and nausea, until they became more severe and persistent, preventing him from moving his neck.

The signs were due to metastatic breast cancer – also known as stage IV breast cancer – which occurs when breast cancer spreads to other parts of the body, most often to the liver, brain, bones, or bones. lungs. .

However, Myatt told the BBC that no one had mentioned this possibility when he was diagnosed 10 years ago.

"I was devastated, I felt stupid and naive," she says.

"People do not realize that you can move to another part of the body, even if you have nothing in your chest."

Myatt now follows his fourth treatment and looks forward to the results of his latest scanners.

He knows that he does not have many options and therefore wants to help other women to become aware of this breast cancer disease.

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"If the pain worries you, ask doctors to check your medical history."

"You will not go crazy, when you find a secondary cancer before … it will be easier to contain it."

No cure

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among women and affects 2.1 million women a year worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

It also causes the highest number of cancer-related deaths among women.

It is estimated that in 2018, 627,000 women died of breast cancer. This equates to about 15% of all cancer deaths among women.

While awareness of primary breast cancer has increased in recent years, a British non-profit organization stresses the importance of raising awareness and disseminating information about the fact that the disease can spread throughout the body.

How to recognize the symptoms?

Depending on which part of the body they spread, they vary. But the most common symptoms include:

* Unexpected weight loss or lack of appetite

* Discomfort or swelling under the ribs or upper abdominal area

* Severe or continuous headaches

* Alterations in speech or vision

* Nausea

* Shortness of breath or dry cough

* Loss of balance or weakness or numbness in the limbs

* Bumps or swelling under the arm, sternum or clavicle

* Bone pain (eg in the back, hips or ribs) that does not improve with painkillers and may worsen at night

According to Helen Stokes-Lampard, a professor at the Royal College of Family Physicians, some of these symptoms "are very difficult to interpret because they are vague in their infancy".

How does it spread

The cancer cells can separate from the original tumor in the chest and move to other parts of the body through the blood or lymphatic system, which is a vast network of nodules and blood vessels of which the function is to eliminate bacteria, viruses and cell debris.

According to the breastcancer.org charity, cancer can manifest in another part of the body months, or even years after the initial diagnosis and treatment.

About 30% of women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer will develop metastatic cancer.

Although the metastatic tumor is now housed in another area of ​​the body, it is also made up of breast cancer cells and not the organ where it is located.

Metastatic breast cancer is incurable. Patients stay in treatment for the rest of their lives.

BBC