Metastatic Breast Cancer: 19 Terms to Know

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer — which is breast cancer that has spread to another part of the body — you’ll likely come across a lot of new terms as you learn about the disease. You might hear some people refer to metastatic breast cancer as “mets” or stage IV cancer.

Here are some common terms that can help you better understand the diagnosis, treatments, and experience of living with metastatic breast cancer. 

Many doctors think about breast cancer as being either early-stage or advanced-stage. Advanced-stage breast cancer includes metastatic breast cancer and locally advanced breast cancer. Unlike metastatic breast cancer, locally advanced breast cancer has not spread to other parts of the body away from the breast.

There are five stages of breast cancer — stage 0 to stage IV. Metastatic breast cancer is also called stage IV. 

Bone metastasis is cancer that has spread from an original tumor site to the bones. The bones are the most common place for breast cancer to spread.

A cancer-versary, a milestone that you define, can be a meaningful day for people who’ve experienced cancer. It can be the day you were diagnosed with cancer or the day that you started treatment. It can be a day of reflection or a day of celebration — it’s up to you how (and if) you mark the day.

Clinical trials are studies in which people agree to be treated with new medicines under careful supervision to help doctors identify effective treatments with the fewest side effects. Clinical trials help update standard treatments. All the recent advances in metastatic breast cancer treatment came about because of clinical trials. If you’re interested in participating in a clinical trial, talk to your doctor to learn if there are trials that might be a good fit for you. The metastatic breast cancer trial search tool can help you to find possible trials to talk about with your doctor.

When talking about cancer, de novo means the first occurrence of cancer in the body. When someone is diagnosed with de novo metastatic breast cancer, it means that by the time they receive a first diagnosis, breast cancer has already spread from the breast to another area of the body.

Genetic testing analyzes a sample of your blood or saliva for inherited mutations, or changes, in your genes that are linked to cancer. If you’ve been diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, knowing whether you have certain genetic mutations, such as mutations in the BRCA genes, can influence your treatment choices.

Hospice is a program that provides care to people who are facing the end of life (typically within six months) and who are receiving treatments only to ease symptoms, like pain. Hospice care focuses on improving quality of life rather than treating the cancer itself. Hospice offers physical, emotional, social, and spiritual support to people with cancer and their families, with the goal of making the person as comfortable and alert as possible. Hospice care is often given at home, but can also be given in a hospital or long-term care facility. It’s important to know that hospice care is not the same as palliative care.

METAvivor is the name of a nonprofit organization that raises funds for research on metastatic breast cancer, including treatments and quality of life. The group also raises awareness about metastatic breast cancer and the specific issues that come along with living with the disease. You may also hear people who are living with metastatic breast cancer describe themselves as a “metavivor” or “metathriver.” This means they are living their lives to the fullest, with joy, love, and hope.

Like a cancer-versary, a meta-versary is a personal milestone that’s unique to your cancer journey. For many people, it’s the day they went in for scans or a biopsy, or were diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer.

When there is no detectable evidence of breast cancer in your body after an exam or imaging, doctors call it no evidence of disease, commonly referred to as NED.

No evidence of active disease, or NEAD, means the cancer is still seen on imaging scans, but is not growing and is considered stable.

Oligometastatic breast cancer means the breast cancer has spread to other parts of the body, but there are only a few, small areas of cancer.

Palliative care (sometimes called supportive care) helps to manage the symptoms of cancer and treatment side effects, as well as psychological, social, and spiritual concerns. Palliative care may be given along with active treatment for breast cancer. It’s important to know that palliative care is not the same as hospice care: hospice is a type of palliative care offered at the end of life.

Progression means the cancer has grown, spread to a new location, or become more aggressive by developing new genetic mutations.

When cancer comes back after treatment, it’s called a recurrence. When breast cancer comes back in the same breast, it’s called local recurrence. When breast cancer comes back in another part of the body away from the breast, such as the bones or lungs, it’s called distant or metastatic recurrence.

People diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer have imaging scans multiple times per year to check how well treatment is working and to ensure that the cancer isn’t growing or spreading to other areas of the body. Many people feel especially anxious when they’re due for a scan or waiting for scan results, which many people call scanxiety.

Living with metastatic breast cancer can be like running a long race where you need to pace yourself. Sometimes you may need to take a break from treatment so your body can rest and recover, especially if you’re having troubling side effects. Talk to your medical team about your quality of life, your goals, and any special events you have coming up so you can develop a treatment plan that includes breaks when you need them.

Tumor markers, also called cancer markers or biomarkers, are any substances in your body that offer information about the cancer. Tumor markers can be proteins or genetic mutations.

Tumor marker tests are done on a sample of the cancer tumor or on a sample of your blood or tissue. There are a number of different tests used to look for tumor markers — no one test can find them all. Because there are so many tests, you may hear them called a number of different names, including genomic tests, broad molecular profiling, circulating tumor DNA tests, somatic mutation tests, and tumor subtype tests.

Concerning metastatic breast cancer, unresectable means the cancer can’t be removed completely with surgery.