Palliative care for metastatic breast cancer: What you need to know
Palliative care is a specialized field that helps improve the quality of life for anyone facing a serious illness. Sometimes confused with hospice care, palliative care can begin at any point after a diagnosis, whereas hospice care is focused on end-of-life care without a curative intent.
For those facing a metastatic breast cancer diagnosis, palliative care can provide a multidisciplinary, whole-body approach to your existing treatment plan. It can help relieve treatment side effects, provide emotional guidance, and even serve as support for your caregiver.
Keep reading to learn how you can work with your palliative care team to enhance your comfort and quality of life.
Who’s on your palliative care team?
Palliative care is delivered by a team of specialists who work together to address all aspects of your care. This team typically includes doctors and nurses with expertise in palliative medicine and social workers who can help with practical and emotional needs. Spiritual care providers and psychologists may also be members of your palliative care team. Depending on your specific needs, your palliative care team may also include nutritionists, pharmacists, or therapists.
When should you consider palliative care in your treatment plan?
There is no right or wrong time to begin palliative care and it can be given at any time following a diagnosis. Metastatic breast cancer comes with a lot of complex challenges that palliative care can help address. Talk to your oncologist about how palliative care can help you manage symptoms, emotional distress, care planning, or provide an extra hand to your caregivers. Don’t be afraid to ask for a referral if your doctor doesn’t bring it up.
Below are some questions you can bring to your care team to gain more clarity on how palliative care can support you.
- What palliative care services are available to me?
- How can palliative care help with my symptoms?
- Can I continue my cancer treatments while getting palliative care?
- How does palliative care support my family?
- What are the potential benefits and risks of palliative chemotherapy or surgery?
- How can we make sure my care reflects what matters most to me?
How palliative treatments can help metastatic breast cancer
When treatments are used in a palliative setting, the focus shifts from eliminating the cancer to helping you feel better.
Palliative chemotherapy
Palliative chemotherapy can help slow the growth of cancer and reduce pain, especially if tumors are pressing on organs or causing discomfort. Unlike chemotherapy given with a curative intent, palliative chemotherapy is aimed at improving your quality of life and controlling symptoms.
Similarly, palliative radiation therapy can be used to ease pain by targeting specific areas where the cancer has spread, including the bones or soft tissue.
Palliative drug therapy
Over half of the people with metastatic breast cancer have bone metastasis. This can greatly affect your quality of life and lead to pain, immobility, fatigue, and numbness. To help manage these symptoms, your care team may recommend bone-modifying medications, such as zoledronic acid, pamidronate, or denosumab. These drugs can reduce bone-related complications and help ease the pain caused by bone metastases.
Palliative surgery
In some cases, palliative surgery may be an option. Surgery can help manage severe pain caused by nerve compression from a tumor or improve mobility if cancer has spread to the bones.
Your care team will talk with you about balancing the potential benefits and side effects of these treatments, so you can make informed decisions that reflect your priorities and goals.
If you would like to connect with an Outcomes4Me oncology nurse practitioner at no charge through the Outcomes4Me app, just use the “Ask Outcomes4Me” button.
