Metastatic Breast Cancer: An Evaluation of the Safety and Effectiveness of High Dose Chemotherapy with Autologous Stem Cell Transplant

Breast cancer is the leading cause of death for American women. Metastatic breast cancer, the focus of this paper, is defined as cancer that originated in the breast and has moved to lymph nodes and other bodily tissues. The treatment researched here is high-dose chemotherapy (HDC) followed by an autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). The safety and efficacy of HDC/ASCT are still under examination. Some arguments state that the effectiveness of HDC/ASCT may vary according to these non-treatment related factors: age, stage of disease at diagnosis, hormone receptor status, use of prior adjuvant chemotherapy, initial disease-free interval, response to prior chemotherapy, and number and sites of metastases. At this time it is still unclear if HDC/ASCT is a more effective treatment than traditional chemotherapy, as the survival rate is not significantly higher, while toxicity is higher. The health and safety of the women is important, and a safe treatment is one that does not kill the patient and does not result in permanent side effects. It has been concluded that higher levels of chemotherapy induce higher levels of toxicity and mental disturbances not limited to the following: nausea, myelosuppression, infection, mucositis and diarrhea, depression, stress, and fatigue. There is a low mortality rate associated with the actual transplant itself. The practice of re-infusion of stem cells has become a valuable method of hematopoietic rescue, as longer survival and few long term illnesses are associated with it. In the future more research should go into identifying the specifics that will define the women who will benefit from HDC/ASCT. The development of drugs that would not harm non-cancerous cells would be the ideal solution to cancer.