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Breast Cancer,Metastatic or Recurrent - Cause

The exact cause of breast cancer is not known. After you have had breast cancer, you have a higher than average risk of cancer. When cancer comes back or spreads, it is called recurrent or metastatic breast cancer. In most cases, a recurrence will show up within 5 to 10 years after a first diagnosis.¹

Although cancer is always treated aggressively, if even a small cluster of cancer cells is missed, cancer can come back (recur). If your breast cancer has recurred, you may feel angry or frustrated and may second-guess your previous treatments. And you may feel hopeless. But there are treatments that may be helpful. Some women live for many years, managing their cancer like a long-term health problem.

Recommended Related to Breast Cancer

I'm Too Young to Get Breast Cancer!

By Amy Engeler On September 2 of last year, Tomomi Arikawa left her office door open as she slipped out to her two o'clock sonogram appointment. She expected to return shortly — the imaging center was just across town from her office at ABC News, where she was a story editor for 20/20. At her gynecologist's urging, Tomomi was going to have a tender lump in her right breast checked out. The lump felt squishy, like a piece of Bubble Wrap, not like a hard kernel or a marble or any of the objects tumors...

Read the I'm Too Young to Get Breast Cancer! article > >

WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise

Last Updated: October 22, 2009

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