Recurrent cancer is cancer that has come back after it could not be detected. Treatment for the recurrent disease depends mainly on the location and extent of the cancer. Another main factor is the type of treatment the woman had before.
If breast cancer comes back only in the breast after breast-sparing surgery, the woman may have a mastectomy. Chances are good that the disease will not come back again.
If breast cancer recurs in other parts of the body, treatment may involve chemotherapy, hormone therapy, or biological therapy. Radiation therapy may help control cancer that recurs in the chest muscles or in certain other areas of the body.
Treatment can seldom cure cancer that recurs outside the breast. Supportive care is often an important part of the treatment plan. Many patients have supportive care to ease their symptoms and anticancer treatments to slow the progress of the disease. Some receive only supportive care to improve their quality of life.