To Know or Not to Know: Data in Metastatic Breast Cancer

With the constant advancements in metastatic breast cancer, there are many situations where there may not be clear data on long-term outcomes or quality of life for certain drugs, said Patricia Jakel, MN, RN, AOCN.

Jakel is an advanced practice nurse at UCLA's solid tumor program, co-editor in chief of Oncology Nursing News, and a breast cancer survivor.

Transcription

We're leapfrogging so fast with metastatic breast cancer that we sometimes don't have data to tell you what it's going to be like in 4 or 5 years. That oftentimes is difficult for data-driven people. Other people, like myself, I didn't really want to know the data because I'm not a big data person. I want to know well what's the quality of life when you're on these medications? Am I going to be able to work? Am I going to be able to exercise? Exercise was important to me. So it really depends on what's important to you at that point in your life.