Treatment of metastatic breast cancer – an update

Due to the effi cient screening and early detection most breast cancer cases are recognized today in early stage. Approximately 5% of newly detected cases have distant metastasis. In Hungary the situation is worse. Early stage disease will relapse in about 30%, mainly with distant metastasis. Metastatic breast cancer is incurable disease, except some rare, special cases. As systemic therapeutic options are developing rapidly, most breast cancer subtypes can be treated successfully and long term survival is not rare. Primary objective of the treatment is increasing overall survival and quality of life, by decreasing disease related symptoms. In this review we summarize the systemic therapeutic options of metastatic breast cancer according to the subtypes. It is recommended to use an individual treatment plan for every patient.