Breast cancer is classified as stage 4 or stage IV if metastases are present at the time of diagnosis. For patients with stage 4 breast cancer, cancer cells have spread beyond the breast and started invading other organs in the body. Stage 4 breast cancer is a serious condition with a low survival rate.
Effects
According to the data published by the National Cancer Institute, the five-year survival rate of stage 4 breast cancer is roughly 20 percent, meaning that only one in five patients will survive more than five years after the diagnosis. The survival data is based on 11,222 cases registered in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database.
Considerations
A small fraction (1 to 3 percent) of stage 4 breast cancer patients experience long-term survival with stable disease, according to CBCRP.org. These patients still have metastatic breast cancer but their conditions do not deteriorate over time and they are able to survive 10 to 15 years or more after the diagnosis. A few of these patients also experience complete remission following treatment. The reason for such long-term survival is not completely understood.
Significance
Based on survival data, stage 4 breast cancer is often considered to be incurable.
Size
Roughly three to six percent of breast cancer patients are diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.
Expert Insight
Whether to perform surgery for stage IV breast cancer remains a controversial question. Conventional wisdom indicates that surgical removal of the primary tumor would not improve survival. On the other hand, in a recent study published in Annals of Surgical Oncology, the survival rate of patients who had surgical resection of the primary tumor is much better than that of patients who did not have surgical resection.
