metastatic disease and possible treatment

Hello Doctor,

My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, and operated for MRM for right breast. 3 out of 11 nodes were positive. No chemothearapy was done. The pathology report shows ER/PR negative.
Last month supraclavicular lymphnode was removed and biopsy shows malignant tumor, ER - negative, PR-positive, HER2-negative. Presently she is suffering from pleural effusion. The cytology report fails to detect malignancy.

She is 71 year old and Type-II diabetic, and extremely weak (can hardly walk)

At present our oncologist has stated treatment with Tamoxifen, and he is of the opinion that this will take at least couple of months to start working.

My question is
1. What is the probable treatment in such condition ?
2. We are in a fix, whether she will be in a position to tolarate chemothearapy  or this will lead her to complete bed ridden and develope further complications ?
3. Is there any new drug or treatment available to improve her quality of life ? and some freedon from the side effects?

Reqeust you to please guide me.

[Cleveland Clinic]

Dear abhish,  The goals of treatment of metastatic breast cancer are control of the disease and symptoms of the disease for as long as possible.  Any treatment would be based on a number of factors such as evaluation of the disease, symptoms of disease, prior treatment, and the patient’s overall medical condition – keeping in mind the goals of treatment of metastatic disease.   Hormone therapy such as tamoxifen  or an aromatase inhibitor may be effective treatment for hormone receptor positive  (ER-positive or PR-positive) metastatic  breast cancer .