1. What are the symptoms of breast cancer recurrence?
Most breast cancers don’t come back after treatment, but it’s very common to worry about breast cancer returning.
If breast cancer does come back, it’s known as recurrence.
It’s important to know what signs and symptoms to look out for.
Report any symptoms that:
- Are new or unusual for you
- Don't have an obvious cause
- Don't go away
Changes to the breast or chest area
Be aware of any changes to your breast or chest area.
If you’ve had , the cancer could come back in the remaining breast tissue.
If you’ve had a , the cancer could come back in the chest wall or in the skin.
Look for changes to the other breast too. Changes include:
- Swelling on your chest, in your armpit or around your collarbone
- A change in shape or size
- A change in skin texture, such as puckering or dimpling
- The nipple has become pulled in (inverted) or looks different, for example changed position or shape
- Liquid (discharge) that comes from the nipple without squeezing it
- Swelling in the arm or hand
- Redness or a rash on the skin, in or around the nipple or in the area of the mastectomy scar line of your treated breast
- A lump or thickening that feels different (with your treated breast this could be on or away from the scar line)
Symptoms elsewhere in the body
Sometimes breast cancer cells can spread from the breast to other parts of the body. This is known as secondary (metastatic) breast cancer.
2. What to do if you have a concern
If you have follow-up appointments
If you still attend follow-up appointments, calling your breast care nurse can be a good way to discuss any concerns in between your follow-up appointments. They may be able to make you an earlier appointment if you need to see your treatment team.
If you have open access follow-up
If you have open access follow-up, you will be given details of who to contact if you have any concerns.
After your follow-up has ended
After you have been discharged from your follow-up appointments, your GP may be your main contact to get concerns checked quickly.
When speaking to your GP, make sure they know about your previous breast cancer diagnosis, particularly if you were diagnosed some time ago.
If necessary, your GP can refer you back to your treatment team.
Alternatively, you may be able to contact the breast care nurse or hospital you were discharged from to report any concerns.
3. What are the chances of new symptoms being a sign of breast cancer returning?
Each person’s risk of breast cancer recurrence is different and depends on many factors, such as the size, type, grade and features of the cancer and whether the lymph nodes were affected.
Your treatment team can tell you more about your individual risk of recurrence if you want to know this.
The risk of breast cancer recurring is higher in the first few years and usually reduces as time goes on.
However, recurrence can happen even many years after treatment. This is why it’s important to continue to be breast and body aware and report any changes to your treatment team or GP.
In the UK, the number of people surviving breast cancer has risen greatly over the past decade. Most people diagnosed with primary breast cancer will not have a recurrence.
4. Checking for changes
Whether you’ve had breast-conserving surgery or a mastectomy with or without reconstruction, it’s important to be aware of any changes to the breast, chest or surrounding area, even if you’re having follow-up appointments or regular mammograms.
It can be difficult to know how your breast or scar area should feel, especially as the area can change over time as it repairs and heals.
After treatments like surgery and radiotherapy, you may have pain and sensations such as burning and numbness in the scar area and under the arm. The area around the scar may feel lumpy, numb or sensitive. If you have pain that gets worse or is severe, contact your treatment team or GP.
How to check
There’s no set way to check for any changes.
You’ll need to get to know how the area looks and feels so you know what’s normal for you. This will help you to feel more confident about noticing changes and reporting them early to your treatment team or GP.
It’s also important to be aware of any new changes in the other breast and to report these as soon as possible.
Get used to looking at and feeling both sides of your chest regularly. You can do this in the bath or shower, when you use body lotion, or when you get dressed.
There’s no need to change your usual routine. Decide what you’re comfortable with and what suits you best.
5. Support after treatment
For some people, getting support after treatment has finished is as important as it was at diagnosis and during treatment.
Some people benefit from talking therapy, such as counselling. You can speak to your GP or treatment team about this.
Our Moving Forward courses and booklet can help you adjust to life after treatment.
There may also be local services such as support groups or health and wellbeing events. Your local cancer information centre will have details.
Our Someone Like Me service puts you in contact by phone or email with someone else who’s had breast cancer and who’s been trained to help.
You can chat to other people going through breast cancer on our forum.
