PLEASE HELP TOTALLY LOST

My grandmother just found out last Thursday that she has breast cancer and now we know it is also in her brain. Noone is telling us anything does anyone know what her chances are and if chemo is possible in stage 4 breast cancer

[Fernando Roque, MD]

Hi.  I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother's condition.  If she has cancer metastases in her brain, this can be treated by whole brain radiotherapy.  It is important to treat her brain metastases promptly.  People with untreated brain metastases typically survive for less than two months.  If treatment is not delayed, your grandmother can still live for a year or more.  If your grandmother has a type of breast cancer called HER-2 positive, her brain metastases would respond to treatment with the drug Lapatinib (Tykerb).  Chemotherapy in stage 4 breast cancer is certainly possible, and is very helpful not only in controlling the spread of disease, but in substantially prolonging the patient's life.