Symptoms
The symptoms of metastatic breast cancer depend on the size and locations of the tumors. The most common places for the cancer to spread are the bones, lungs, liver, and brain. Breast cancer may also move into the bone marrow, ovaries, spinal cord, and other parts of the body.
- Cancer that grows into the skin or chest wall can cause skin thickening, skin redness, skin nodules or lesions, abnormal size or shape of the breast, and chest pain.
- Cancer that has spread to the bones is likely to cause bone pain, high calcium level, or tenderness and can lead to fractures.
- Cancer that has spread to the lungs can cause shortness of breath, dry cough, extreme fatigue, and sometimes pain in the chest wall.
- Cancer that has spread to the brain can cause headaches, seizures, unsteadiness, memory loss, confusion, and blurred vision.
- Cancer that has spread to the liver can cause jaundice (yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes), swelling of the limbs and upper abdomen, weight loss, fever, mental status change, and nausea.
Some people with metastatic cancer do not have any symptoms and only discover it after having an X-ray or other diagnostic test. In rare cases, a person may discover the original tumor only after a metastatic cancer causes symptoms.
