Palliative therapy for metastatic breast cancer

Breast cancer may recur in the form of localized or generalized metastatic disease. Although localized metastasis is almost always evidence of more widespread occult disease, local therapy is often of prolonged palliative value. Generalized metastasis calls for systemic therapy, and hormone methods in many cases can provide long-term control before chemotherapy must be resorted to. The therapeutic approach depends on whether the patient is premenopausal or postmenopausal. Generally, ablative is more effective than additive hormone therapy. Whether a given patient will respond can be predicted to a degree by hormone receptor tests.