What does metastatic breast cancer really mean?

Cancer has spread: Metastatic, or stage 4 breast cancer, means the cancer has spread into other places in the body. Breast cancer at this stage can be treated, sometimes for 10 or more years depending on the type, but it cannot be cured.

CA elsewhere: Breast cancer is cancer in the breast. When it goes somewhere else, such as the lymph nodes or brain, then it is metastatic. A biopsy can show that it is cancer and it originates from the breast and has spread somewhere else.

Traveled: It means that the cancer cells that started in the breast have traveled outside of the breast and have created new tumors in other locations.

Cancer Elsewhere: What makes any cancer "evil" is the potential for cancer cells to break away & travel thru the bloodstream or lymphatics & take up residence in a different organ. Systemic disease implies that there are cancer cells "elsewhere", either indirectly identified by microscopic examination (+lymph node) or seen on x-ray studies (metastatic disease). Rx requires meds that travel "elsewhere", ie chemo-rx.