“Can breast can spread even after breast removal surgery?”
I am a 45 year old woman who suffered breast cancer last year. I underwent my chemotherapy and even had to get one of my breasts removed. Can I still get cancer in my other breast or the other parts of my body?
3 Answers
Everything you did was to prevent cancer from coming back but it is not a guarantee. While the tumor was in your breast, it had a chance to send cells to other places like bone and lung. The chemotherapy you did was to kill these cells, but some may be dormant and escape the treatment. So there is a chance it could come back. How much risk depends on factors such as the size of the tumor and whether lymph nodes were involved. You are at a slightly higher risk to get cancer in the other breast. If this occurred, it would not be a spread from the first cancer, but a new tumor that you would approach like this one biopsy, surgery, maybe chemo, etc. Hope this helps.
Yes, the real quest is why this wasn't discussed before or after surgery in context of available measures to reduce risk of "spread".
Unfortunately the answer is yes. Any cancer can spread to other parts of your body even after surgery and chemotherapy. The rate of this happening depends on the size of the tumor, number of nodes involved and the type of cancer. (Estrogen, progesterone and HER2 status. The rate of this cancer going to the other breast is very low. But you do have a chance of a new cancer in the other breast at a rate of about 1/2%per year life. So if you live to 80, it would be a 20% risk of a new cancer forming.
