Can someone explain what metastic disease means?

[Becky]

Dear Lisa

I suppose what needs to be determined is what the difference between metastatic disease and Stage 4 is. For example, like you, I was also node positive and nodes are not breast so... theorectically any woman with node positive disease or even just angio/lymphaic invasion has metastatic disease - cancer in nodes or vessels. However, I have always considered metastatic disease as cancer in other organs but then, the lymph system and nodes are different organs than breast.

I suppose you should call back and ask for this clarification - are they looking only for Stage 1 women without or without angiolymphatic invasion (or those Stage 1s with no invasion at all perhaps?!??)

If it is Stage 1 women, then they don't want anyone who had nodes involved and thus, they are considering positive nodes as "metastatic" (which strictly defined is true but not when the rest of the world defines metastatic (aka "mets") as distant organ involvement.