Chemotherapy does not cure metastatic colorectal cancer, but it can improve symptoms and prolong life.
Chemotherapy has been the standard treatment for many cancer metastases, while immunotherapy and targeted therapy have become relatively new options.
While chemotherapy is one of the oldest and most successful ways of treating cancer, it doesn't always work. So, yes, cancer can spread during chemotherapy. Spreading could mean the tumor keeps growing, or that the original tumor shrinks, but cancer metastasizes, forming tumors in other areas of the body.
In some situations, metastatic cancer can be cured. But for most metastatic cancers, treatment does not cure the cancer but it can slow its growth and reduce symptoms. It is possible to live for many months or years with certain types of cancer, even after the development of metastatic disease.
It uses drugs to destroy cancer cells and prevent tumor growth. It may be paired with other cancer treatments such as radiation therapy or surgery. Chemotherapy is usually given intravenously (through a vein). It's an effective treatment but can cause side effects.
Stage IV Breast Cancer Prognosis
There is no known cure for metastatic breast cancer. Once cancer cells have spread to other areas of the body, it is not possible for them all to be removed.
While there is no cure for metastatic breast cancer, it is possible to manage it with treatment for a number of years. The cancer can also go into remission.
When cancer metastasizes, usually when it is considered stage 4 cancer, it spreads to a different part of the body. Metastasis can impair the function of essential organs and body systems (digestion, lungs, bones, liver, blood vessels), which can cause essential body functions to cease.
In the past, many people did not live long with metastatic cancer. Even with today's better treatments, recovery is not always possible. But doctors can often treat cancer even if they cannot cure it. A good quality of life is possible for months or even years.
Until recently, long-term survivors of advanced or metastatic cancer have primarily been women with metastatic breast cancer. But doctors are now seeing survivors with other types of cancer, including lung, gastrointestinal, kidney cancer, and melanoma.
In most cases, metastatic cancer is not curable. However, treatment can slow growth and ease many of the associated symptoms. It's possible to live for several years with some types of cancer, even after it has metastasized. Some types of metastatic cancer are potentially curable, including melanoma and colon cancer.
Most metastases, however, occur within 10 years after removal of the primary tumor.
This can happen because the treatment didn't destroy all the cancer cells. Chemotherapy drugs kill cancer cells by attacking cells that are in the process of doubling to form 2 new cells. But not all the cells in a cancer divide at the same time. Normal cells go into a long rest period between divisions.
Rarely are the terms “cure” and “metastatic cancer” used together. That's because cancer that has spread from where it originated in the body to other organs is responsible for most deaths from the disease.
Advanced cancer is cancer that is unlikely to be cured or controlled with treatment. This is also called end-stage cancer or terminal cancer. (Sometimes terminal cancer is called metastatic cancer, but they aren't always the same thing. To learn more, see Metastatic Cancer: When Cancer Spreads.)
With some cancers, chemotherapy can't cure the cancer on its own. But it can help in combination with other types of treatment. For example, many people with breast or bowel cancer have chemotherapy after surgery to help lower the risk of the cancer coming back.
About one-third of women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in the U.S. live at least 5 years after diagnosis [7]. Some women may live 10 or more years beyond diagnosis [9].
The 5-year relative survival rate for women with metastatic breast cancer in the U.S. is 30%. The 5-year survival rate for men with metastatic breast cancer is 19%. The survival rates for metastatic breast cancer vary based on several factors.
Lung and bronchial cancer causes more deaths in the U.S. than any other type of cancer in both men and women.
Some people can live for years with metastatic cancer that is well controlled. Other treatments may improve the quality of life by relieving symptoms. This type of care is called palliative care. It can be given at any point during treatment for cancer.
Unlike breast cancer, which has a very high survival rate—an average of 90% over five years—metastatic breast cancer isn't curable. But technology, treatments, and therapies are constantly improving, experts say, which means a metastatic breast cancer diagnosis is not an automatic death sentence.
Many cancer deaths are caused when cancer moves from the original tumor and spreads to other tissues and organs. This is called metastatic cancer.
Stage 4 cancer is a serious disease that requires immediate expert care. Patients may live for years following treatment for stage 4 cancer.
"In general, cancers that have spread to the lymph nodes are typically stage 2 or 3," says Juan Santamaria, MD, Nebraska Medicine surgical oncologist. "Many of these cancers are still treatable and even curable at this stage.
SEATTLE - One day at a time. That's how a Seattle woman with stage four cancer is approaching her illness and her life. One day turned into one month, turned into one year.