Breast cancer is a type of cancer that begins in breast cells. According to the Mayo Clinic, breast cancer is the most common cancer after skin cancer in women. However, breast cancer rates have dropped likely due to the increase in breast cancer awareness. Researchers are not clear on the cause of breast cancer, but know for sure that 5 to 10 percent of breast cancers are linked to genetics, states the Mayo Clinic. Coping with breast cancer can be difficult. In addition, you must continually be aware of signs of metastasis to bone or other organs.
Step 1
Tell your doctor if you are experiencing pain in other parts of your body, especially your spinal column. Do not ignore new onset back pain, because breast cancer likely spreads to this area.
Step 2
Ask your doctor to perform a bone scan to detect metastasis to bone. Review the bone scan with your doctor and look for "hot spots," which are an increase in signal due to a high amount of bone activity. Tell your doctor if you have a previous allergy with injected imaging dye.
Step 3
Request a positron emission tomography (PET) scan to detect metastasis to bone or other parts of your body.
Step 4
Discuss with your doctor the possibility of assessing tumor microenvironment of metastasis (TMEM) density to detect systemic metastases, as a novel test described in an article in Clinical Cancer Research.
