"Dramatically different" breast cancer treatments helping patients live longer and healthier lives
BOSTON – While a breast cancer diagnosis of any kind is life-altering, a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer can be especially devastating. But new advances in treatment are helping patients live longer and healthier lives.
Valerie Frank was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in 2018.
Despite multiple surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation, two years ago it returned and had become metastatic, meaning it spread to her bones, liver, and lungs. The 50-year-old wife and mother of three teenage girls was crushed.
"It was absolutely terrifying. I was in a state of panic for months, just paralyzing panic," she said.
Fortunately, according to Dr. Sara Tolaney, Chief of the Division of Breast Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, there are so many more treatment options available for patients like Frank compared to just a decade ago.
"It used to be patients were living about two years now the median survival is up to five-plus years," Dr. Tolaney said. "So, it is dramatically different. And that's because we have so many therapies that are available to patients."
One such therapy is antibody-drug conjugates that act as "smart bombs" by directly targeting the tumor, sparing healthy cells, and reducing side effects.
"We have seen the most number of approvals for metastatic breast cancer in the last three years than I have seen in my entire career over 15 years," Dr. Tolaney said.
But over time, cancer cells learn to outsmart individual drugs, so it's important to have an arsenal of options. Frank has already gone through several therapies. When her current regimen stops working, she'll move on to another.
"I hope one day we'll be able to tell a patient with metastatic disease that we can cure them," Dr. Tolaney said. "We're not there yet."
"I am going to die of breast cancer unless I get hit by a bus," Frank said. "I'll die of breast cancer, but I'm determined to be here for as long as I can for my family."
No matter what it takes.
In many patients with advanced breast cancer, these new targeted therapies are either being used in conjunction with traditional chemotherapy or replacing it altogether.