How Long Does It Take For Breast Cancer To Spread

When Do Signs And Symptoms First Appear

Typically, cancer signs and symptoms first appear when the cancerous tumor or mass has grown large enough that it begins to push against nearby organs and tissue, blood vessels, and nerves.

This can lead to pain, a change in how the nearby organs function, or both. A brain tumor pressing against the optic nerve will affect vision, for example.

Some cancers are fast moving, such as liver and pancreatic cancers. Prostate cancer, however, is usually slow moving. This is why many older men with prostate cancer forego treatment theyre more likely to die with prostate cancer than because of it.

Screenings for certain cancers should be part of your normal preventive healthcare. These include cancers of the:

Your age, sex, family history, and your own medical history will dictate when routine screenings should begin and how often they should be done.

If youre concerned about symptoms associated with various cancers, then you shouldnt hesitate to see your doctor. You can connect to a physician in your area using the Healthline FindCare tool.

What Does Lentigo Maligna Look Like

Lentigo maligna presents as a slowly growing or changing patch of discoloured skin. At first, it often resembles common freckles or brown marks . It becomes more distinctive and atypical in time, often growing to several centimetres over several years or even decades. Like other flat forms of melanoma, it can be recognised by the ABCDE rule: Asymmetry, Border irregularity, Colour variation, large Diameter and Evolving.

The characteristics of lentigo maligna include:

• Large size: > 6 mm and often several centimetres in diameter at diagnosis
• Irregular shape
• Variable pigmentation colours may include light brown or tan, dark brown, pink, red or white
• Smooth surface.

You May Like: Can Men Have Breast Cancer

About The Medical Reviewer

Dr. Lin is a medical oncologist specializing in the care of patients with all stages of breast cancer. Her research focuses upon improving the outcomes of people living with metastatic breast cancer, including a particular focus on the challenge of breast cancer brain metastases. She has led multiple clinical trials which have led to new treatment options for patients with breast cancer that has metastasized to the brain.Dr. Lin received her MD from Harvard Medical School in 1999. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Womens Hospital and went on to complete fellowships in medical oncology and hematology at Dana-Farber. In 2005, she joined the staff of Brigham and Womens and Dana-Farber, where she is a medical oncologist and clinical investigator in the Breast Oncology Center.

Also Check: Is Stage 2b Breast Cancer Curable

Types Of Bone Metastases

Normally your bones are constantly changing. New bone tissue is being formed and old bone tissue is breaking down into minerals that circulate in your blood. This process is called remodeling.

Cancer cells upset the normal process of bone remodeling, causing bones to become weak or too dense, depending on the type of bone cells affected.

Your bone metastases may be:

• osteoblastic, if there are too many new bone cells
• osteolytic, if too much bone is destroyed

In some cases, your bones may have both types of metastases.

What Is Secondary Breast Cancer

Secondary breast cancer is when cancer cells from a cancer that started in the breast spread to other parts of the body. The cancer that started in the breast is called primary breast cancer.Secondary breast cancer is also called advanced breast cancer or metastatic breast cancer. The most common places for breast cancer to spread to are the:

Rarely, breast cancer may spread to other parts of the body, such as the bone marrow, ovaries or lining of the tummy which is called the peritoneum.

Breast cancer can spread to different parts of the body. This does not mean it will go to all these places.

Related Stories & Media

Also Check: 3 Cm Tumor In Breast

Recommended Reading: How To Feel For Breast Cancer

What Is Secondary Breast Cancer In The Lung

Secondary breast cancer in the lung happens when breast cancer cells spread to the lung. It can also be known as lung metastases or secondaries in the lung.

Secondary breast cancer in the lung is not the same as cancer that started in the lung.

Usually secondary breast cancer occurs months or years after primary breast cancer. But sometimes its found at the same time as the primary breast cancer, or before the primary breast cancer has been diagnosed. In this situation, the breast cancer has already spread to the other parts of the body such as the lung. This is referred to as de novo metastatic breast cancer, meaning the breast cancer is metastatic from the start.

Expert Review And References

• American Cancer Society. Breast Cancer. 2015: .
• de Boer M, van Dijck JA, Bult P, Borm GF, Tjan-Heijnen VC. Breast cancer prognosis and occult lymph node metastases, isolated tumor cells, and micrometastases. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Oxford University Press 2010.
• Lonning PE. Breast cancer prognostication and prediction: are we making progress?. Annals of Oncology. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2007.
• Morrow M, Burstein HJ, and Harris JR. Malignant tumors of the breast. DeVita VT Jr, Lawrence TS, & Rosenberg SA. Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology. 10th ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2015: 79: 1117-1156.
• Tripathy D, Eskenazi LB, Goodson, WH, et al. Breast. Ko, A. H., Dollinger, M., & Rosenbaum, E. Everyone’s Guide to Cancer Therapy: How Cancer is Diagnosed, Treated and Managed Day to Day. 5th ed. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing 2008: pp. 473-514.

Also Check: Will I Die From Stage 1 Breast Cancer

Diagnosis Of Secondary Breast Cancer

You may be diagnosed with secondary breast cancer after having tests to check a new symptom. This could be through your GP or at a breast cancer follow-up clinic. Sometimes there may be no obvious symptoms and the diagnosis is made after routine follow-up tests.

Some women who have just been diagnosed with primary breast cancer have tests that show the cancer has already spread to other parts of the body. Sometimes the secondary breast cancer is diagnosed first and tests show that it first started in the breast.

Your cancer doctor or nurse will ask you about your symptoms and general health. You may need some of the following tests:

Can I Speed Up Hair Regrowth After Chemotherapy

Many women wonder whether there is anything that can speed up hair regrowth.

There is some evidence that using a drug called minoxidil, which can also be found in some hair loss treatments, may help when applied to the scalp.

You can talk to your GP, a dermatologist or a trichologist about the possible use of minoxidil.

Back to top

Read Also: Is Metastatic Breast Cancer Curable

Treating Inflammatory Breast Cancer

Inflammatory breast cancer that has not spread outside the breast is stage III. In most cases, treatment is chemotherapy first to try to shrink the tumor, followed by surgery to remove the cancer. Radiation and often other treatments, like more chemotherapy or targeted drug therapy, are given after surgery. Because IBC is so aggressive, breast conserving surgery and sentinel lymph node biopsy are typically not part of the treatment.

IBC that has spread to other parts of the body may be treated with chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and/or targeted drugs.

Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as journalists, editors, and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.

American Joint Committee on Cancer. Breast. In: AJCC Cancer Staging Manual. 8th ed. New York, NY: Springer 2017:589.

Curigliano G. Inflammatory breast cancer and chest wall disease: The oncologist perspective. Eur J Surg Oncol. 2018 Aug 44:1142-1147.

Hennessy BT, Gonzalez-Angulo AM, Hortobagyi GN, et al. Disease-free and overall survival after pathologic complete disease remission of cytologically proven inflammatory breast carcinoma axillary lymph node metastases after primary systemic chemotherapy. Cancer. 2006 106:10001006.

National Cancer Institute. Inflammatory Breast Cancer. 2016. Accessed at https://www.cancer.gov/types/breast/ibc-fact-sheet on August 30, 2021.

Why Is Staging Important

During your initial diagnosis, you and your cancer team will work together to develop a treatment plan. Staging allows you to answer the following questions:

• How does this cancer typically progress?
• Which treatments may work?

Some of the staging may be even more in-depth, but in general, its designed to prepare a more tailored approach to your disease. Your care team will be able to explain any new terms and what they mean for you.

Expert cancer care

Read Also: Can You Survive Stage 4 Breast Cancer

How Fast Does Metastatic Breast Cancer Spread

Like all cells, breast cancer cells grow by cellular division. But because cancer cells are mutated, their growth rate can be difficult to predict.

According to the Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center at Providence Portland Medical Center, breast cancer cells need to divide at least 30 times before they are detectable by physical exam.

Each division takes about 1 to 2 months, so a detectable tumor has likely been growing in the body for 2 to 5 years.

Generally speaking, the more cells divide, the bigger the tumor grows. The larger the tumor, the greater the odds that it may invade nearby tissues, the lymphatic system, or the circulatory system, and spread to other organs.

Breast cancer grading and staging can provide some clues to how aggressive your cancer is.

Grade 3 breast cancer is likely to spread faster than grade 1 or 2, for example.

that can affect how quickly your breast cancer may spread include:

Grading and staging are the two primary metrics used to assess breast cancer.

If Your Breast Cancer Has Spread

Even if your breast cancer has spread to other parts of your body, it does not necessarily mean its not treatable. If the cancer cannot be removed, the goal of treatment is to improve symptoms, improve quality of life and extend survival.

Some women live with breast cancer for several years as they learn to adjust and accept that theyll be on treatment for an indefinite period of time, explains Dr. Roesch. Your cancer team will help you learn and cope with what you can expect on this journey.

Don’t Miss: Tnm Staging For Breast Cancer

Studies On Time To Surgery And Survival

Several studies have been done, but there are some differences in how these were conducted that can affect the results. For example, some studies have looked at the time between a definitive diagnosis and surgery, and others have looked at the time between the onset of symptoms and the time of surgery. Some have looked at averages of all people, whereas others have separated out people based on age, tumor type, and receptor status. Studies can also be skewed, as doctors may recommend surgery sooner for women who have more aggressive tumors. Lets look at time to surgery and survival rates in different groups of people.

How Breast Cancer Starts

The breast is a highly complex part of the human body. The female breast goes through many changes over a lifetime from birth, puberty, pregnancy and breastfeeding, right through to menopause.

If you have been diagnosed with breast cancer, understanding the anatomy of the breast and the role each part has to play can be helpful to understand your diagnosis. It can also help you talk to your doctor about surgery and other treatment options.

In this piece we cover:-Understanding Breast Anatomy-Normal Breast Changes Through Life-How Does Cancer Start in the Breast?-How Does Cancer Spread Beyond the Breast?-Symptoms of Breast Cancer

Recommended Reading: Does Breast Cancer Have Pain

Why It Spreads And Recurs

You may be wondering why breast cancer cells travel at all. Or, why normal cells donât spread around our bodies. Cancer cells differ from normal cells in many ways. One of these is that normal cells have what is known as âadhesion molecules.â These adhesion molecules act like glue and keep cells where they belong in a particular part of the body.

Normal cells also have âboundariesâ or ways in which cells communicate with each other. This is like one country saying to another âyou donât belong here.â Cancer cells, in contrast, donât respect these cellular communications, essentially ignoring the âfencesâ between different tissues.

Yet another confusing topic when talking about breast cancer spread is why it can happen years or even decades later. We know that, especially with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancers, cancer can seemingly disappear only to recur many years after the original tumor. Nobody is certain exactly how this happens, but there are theories about recurrence that suggest that some breast cancer cells are hardier than others and that these cancer âstem cellsâ are able to lie dormant even through treatment.

What Does A Mammogram Show

A mammogram is a test used to examine the inside of the breasts, using a low dose X-ray. A trained clinician can interpret the images to identify any abnormal areas, masses or calcium deposits that may or may not indicate breast cancer. Mammograms performed on women who have no signs or symptoms of breast cancer are called screening mammograms. Mammograms that used to evaluate an abnormal breast symptom are called diagnostic mammograms.

Also Check: How Many Kinds Of Breast Cancer Are There

Stage 3 Breast Cancer

What is Stage 3 breast cancer?

Stage 3 breast cancer is when tumors are larger than earlier stages or are growing into nearby tissues, and the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes. There are three categories of Stage 3 breast cancer:

• Stage 3A breast cancer In some cases, Stage 3A breast cancer indicates that the cancer spread to four to nine area lymph nodes, and there may or may not be a tumor in the breast. In other cases, it can describe a cancer that has spread less but the tumor is larger than 5 centimeters.
• Stage 3B breast cancer Stage 3B breast cancer can mean that the cancer has spread to the chest wall or to the breasts skin, causing swelling or an ulcer. It may also mean that cancer has spread to up to nine axillary lymph nodes or lymph nodes near the breast bone.
• Stage 3C breast cancer Stage 3C breast cancer means the cancer may have spread to the chest wall or breasts skin, or it has spread to 10 or more nearby lymph nodes. It can also mean the cancer has also spread to lymph nodes above or below the collarbone.

What are the options for Stage 3 breast cancer treatment?

What is the Stage 3 breast cancer treatment timeline?

The treatment timeline for Stage 3 breast cancer depends greatly on the severity, extent of spreading, the type of treatment youre undergoing and how youre responding to those treatments. For most Stage 3 cases, treatment can last anywhere from six to 12 months with hormone therapy lasting many years after.

What Is Stage Iv Breast Cancer

Stage IV is the most advanced stage of breast cancer. It has spread to nearby lymph nodes and to distant parts of the body beyond the breast. This means it possibly involves your organs such as the lungs, liver, or brain or your bones.

Breast cancer may be stage IV when it is first diagnosed, or it can be a recurrence of a previous breast cancer that has spread.

Also Check: Lymph Node Positive Breast Cancer

Recommended Reading: How Long Are Radiation Treatments For Breast Cancer

What To Know About Breast Cancer Growth

Breast cancer occurs when normal cells mutate and multiply faster than usual. One cell divides to become two cells, then each of those cells divides to become four cells, and so on. The uncontrolled multiplication of cancer cells creates tumors within the breast tissue.

The speed at which a cancer progresses depends on the growth rate of the cancer cells. It is hard to estimate cancer growth because not all cancer cells multiply and divide at the same speed.

In most cases, breast cancer initially develops in either the milk ducts or the lobules, which are the glands that produce milk, before expanding into the breast tissue.

Breast cancer that develops in ducts or lobules can spread to the connective tissue. From there, it can spread to the surrounding lymph nodes.

Once in the lymph nodes, the cancer cells can enter the lymphatic system or the bloodstream, where they can move to other areas of the body.

One recent

Plans Have To Be Flexible

My energy is unpredictable, says Sendelbach. I literally never know how Im going to feel from one day to the next. Its so hard to make plans because if I say yes to something thats two weeks away, the day of, I could wake up and feel absolutely horrible.

When someone with metastatic breast cancer declines an invitation or cancels at the last minute, its most likely not because they dont want to be there. Says Sendelbach, We physically cant do it.

Silberman agrees. Ive been going through for a long time, she says, and Ive had friends drop away. Because of MBC and my treatments, its hard for me to be reliable.

Dont Miss: Chemotherapy After Lumpectomy

Also Check: Did Shannen Doherty Have Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Effect Of Hormonal Changes On Breasts

As women develop from pre-puberty through puberty, pregnancy and to menopause, the breasts will be affected by a variety of fluctuations in hormones.

During puberty, hormones produced by the ovaries cause growth and development of the breast. After puberty, the hormones oestrogen and progesterone will change throughout a womans monthly menstrual cycle. This may cause women to have swollen or tender breasts at different times of the month.

During pregnancy the body will produce additional oestrogen and progesterone, which trigger further growth and development of the breast to prepare mothers for breastfeeding.

Around the time of menopause , the ovaries stop producing female hormones including oestrogen. Without oestrogen, the breast tissue decreases in size. After menopause , monthly menstrual periods stop.