Recurrent Breast Cancer

Recurrent breast cancer is breast cancer that comes back after initial treatment. Although the initial treatment is aimed at eliminating all cancer cells, a few may have evaded treatment and survived. These undetected cancer cells multiply, becoming recurrent breast cancer. Recurrent breast cancer may occur months or years after your initial treatment. The cancer may come back in the same place as the original cancer (local recurrence), or it may spread to other areas of your body (distant recurrence).A new lump in your breast or irregular area of firmness, Changes to the skin of your breast, Skin inflammation or area of redness, Nipple discharge, One or more painless nodules on or under the skin of your chest wall, A new area of thickening along or near the mastectomy scar.

Local breast cancer recurrence is when the cancer has reoccurred close to or in the same place the first tumor was found within the breast. If you were treated with lumpectomy and radiation for your first occurrence, the breast tissue cannot be treated with radiation again. In that case, the standard of care for surgical treatment is mastectomy.If radiation was not part of your original treatment when lumpectomy was performed, then another lumpectomy followed by radiation may be recommended. If there is not adequate breast volume remaining for lumpectomy, mastectomy may be recommended. Depending on the medical oncologist’s evaluation, which is based on the prognostic factors of the tumor, he or she may recommend chemotherapy and/or hormonal therapy.Distant breast cancer recurrence is when the cancer has spread to another organ within the body. Breast cancer that has spread—also called metastatic breast cancer—is no longer curable and needs to be managed as a chronic disease. There are various treatment options to control the cancer and stop its progression, prolonging a patient’s life and improving quality of life. These treatments may include:Chemotherapy, Radiation therapy, Hormonal therapy, Biologic targeted therapy, Clinical trials.

Female breast cancer cases diagnosed in Hong Kong has tripled from 1,152 in 1993 to 3,508 in 2012. On average, about 9 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every day. Lifetime breast cancer risk for females is 1 in every 17. In 2012, 57% of the women diagnosed with breast cancer were aged 40-59. The older the age, the greater the risk.