My cousin has breast cancer. Can immunotherapy help her?

Question

Hello doctor,

My cousin is undergoing treatment for metastatic breast cancer, and I am scared. She is 40 years old, and I want to know if there are better treatments available.

What is immunotherapy?They mentioned something about targeted therapy, but I do not understand it. So my concerns are -

Can these treatments help with survival rates?
Her cancer is HER2-positive. What does that mean?
Will they use CDK4/6 inhibitors for her?
Is there something called precision medicine that can help?

I just want to know what is best for her cancer progression.

Kindly help.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

Metastatic breast cancer is classified as stage IV because it has spread to organs or lymph nodes far from the breast. Many women with this diagnosis may live only a few years. In most cases, metastatic cancer is not curable.

However, treatments can slow tumor growth and alleviate many symptoms. Chemotherapy may not be effective in shrinking or eliminating advanced and metastasized cancers.

You can prevent it by adopting a healthy lifestyle that can lower the risk of breast cancer recurrence or spread, it includes:

Maintain a healthy weight
Exercise regularly
Limit alcohol consumption

I hope this information helps you.

Please reach out if you have any questions.

Thank you.