Secondary (metastatic) Breast Cancer
We take a positive and pro-active approach to secondary breast cancer.
This inculdes chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy. Our approach is personalised, tailored to you specific needs. We also offer genetic profiing to help determine appropriate treatments.
Importantly, we have access to stereotactic radiotherapy (including the Cyberknife system and MR linac), with some of the Nation’s foremost experts in both brain and body treatments. Stereotactic radiotherapy is particularly useful for those with isolated areas of cancer and requires no surgery or general anaesthetic.
The key approach in the secondary breast cancer setting is to have appropriate testing to determine which treatments are most likely to help with your cancer.
For oestrogen sensitive (ER+) breast cancer, treatment with aromatase inhibitors and fulvestrant are useful and can be informed by the presence of ESR1 mutations. PI3K is another marker that can be used to help determine whether PI3 kinase inhibitors are useful.
For HER2+ breast cancers, many treatments are available including trastuzumab/pertuzumab, Kadcyla, Enhertu, and tucatinib which are often highly effective.
For triple negative breast cancers, the landscape is rapidly changing, with new treatments in this area for which there has only been traditional chemotherapy. A PDL1 test is vital to inform the use of immunotherapy. Antibody-drug conjugates such as Trodelvy are also now available.
Finally, BRCA1 and BRCA2 testing is important for the use of PARP inhibitor drugs, such a Olaparib.
