Medication and technology offers hope for breast cancer patients

Thanks to the development of new technology and new medications, breast cancer is now classed as a chronic disease, which means the purpose of treatment is to ensure patients' long-time survival, relief of symptoms, and good quality of life.

Even for patients in terminal stages there is still long-term care, local medical experts said.

Breast cancer replaced lung cancer to become the top cancer in the world in 2020, when 2.26 million new cases were reported.

"Breast cancer is also the most prevalent female cancer in China," said Dr Shao Zhimin from Shanghai Cancer Center. "There are 460,000 to 480,000 new breast cancer cases reported in the nation each year now and the patient quantity still keeps rising. The number of new cases is expected to reach half a million in a few years.

"Breast cancer is a complicated disease, which requires more new and innovative treatments. About 25 percent of patients still suffer cancer metastasis or relapse. We are studying how to prolong such patients' life and allow them to survive with tumors like a chronic disease."

Endocrinotherapy is a major treatment for terminal-stage patients, however, many patients are likely to develop drug resistance.

The combination of endocrinotherapy and targeted medicines are offering a new solution.

With the introduction of such new medicines like Ribociclib, patients in the terminal stage or relapse also can enjoy a more than five-year survival, a medical standard for a clinical cure.

"This couldn't be achieved in the past," Shao said.