If you are diagnosed with breast cancer, are treated, and find yourself cancer-free, you are more likely to see your breast cancer return if you are suffering from a form of breast cancer fueled by estrogen. However, there are some patients who are treated for breast cancer and never see their cancer return. You will want to speak with breast cancer treatment services to know what will need to be done if your breast cancer comes back and how to reduce your risk of breast cancer returning.

Estrogen-Fueled Breast Cancer

Estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer has a high risk of spreading to other areas of the body. Therefore, even if your breast cancer is successfully treated, you will need to be screened for other types of cancers such as bone, liver, or lung cancer.

Other Types of Cancers

If cancer regrows in the same area, this is known as a local reoccurrence. If cancer begins growing in a different area of the body, this is known as metastasis. If the tumor occurs locally again, it will be treated in the same way that your cancer was treated originally. 

If your cancer spreads to another area of the body, you might experience symptoms such as weight loss, shortness of breath, yellowing of the skin, seizures, bone pain, and fatigue. However, if you are suffering from bone pain or fatigue, it is more likely that you are suffering from another condition such as arthritis. However, you should still be tested for breast cancer.

Other Factors That Affect the Odds

If you had a very large tumor or a very aggressive cancer, your cancer is much more likely to return. For this reason, it's important to always treat cancer as early as possible to reduce the risk of metastasis and to reduce the risk that your cancer returns. 

Further Tests

When you are cancer-free, you might wonder if you will need additional tests. This is something you should always discuss with a specialist. However, in many cases, you won't be expected to receive additional tests if you are not suffering from any symptoms related to cancer. 

If you do have some of the common symptoms of cancer, you will need a blood test, a tissue biopsy, or an imaging test. There might be additional tests performed. Regardless of where the cancer might be detected, it will still be treated as breast cancer because it originated in your breasts and will require breast cancer drugs to treat. To learn more, contact a breast cancer treatment service.