Reoccurance..metastasis?

[Sherryg683]

How is a reoccurance staged? If you reoccur in the same breast and it has not spread, is it considered metastatic breast cancer or does it have a seperate staging? My friend has just recently reoccured and on her pathology report it mentioned her new breast lesions as metastatic, this cannot be right is it?I was under the impression that it was only metastatic if it had left the breast and spread. It had been 3-1/2 years since her first cancer. She is HER2+. sherryg683

[Yorkiegirl]

This would be what is called a Local Reoccurance. It doesn't change the staging unless it has moved to distance areas of the body (lung,liver, bone,etc) then it would be staged at StageIV.

[Brenda_D]

I would also think it would a local recurrence, but I know some things can be confusing when dealing with recurrence and the meaning of "metastasis".