Cancer's Return Shouldn't Limit Elizabeth Edwards, Doctors Say

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A lot will depend on just what kind of breast cancer Mrs. Edwards originally had, something that wasn't divulged at the press conference. Cancers that are "estrogen-receptor positive" -- meaning they can grow under the influence of circulating estrogen -- may be reined in for months or years by hormonal therapy, which has relatively few side effects.

"If she has the option of hormone therapy and responds to it, she may return to her same quality of life and function and do very well," said Dr. Julia Smith, director of the Lynne Cohen Breast Cancer Preventative Care Program at the New York University Cancer Institute and Bellevue Hospital, in New York City. "There is a subset of patients with bone-only disease -- as it appears that she has -- who respond to hormones and do very well for a very long time, possibly well longer than 10 years."

"So, I think that's the hope," Smith said. "If she has hormone receptor negative disease, then you do not have that option anymore. Then you have to put the patient on (stronger) chemotherapy."

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Depending on the treatment she receives, Elizabeth Edwards could face a "rocky" year ahead, Greene said, although the side effects from the types of systemic chemotherapy and radiation she might receive are not as onerous as those used in the past. She might require a few weeks of radiation first to treat the bone tumor and hopefully eliminate other stray cells, Greene said. And if her cancer is hormone-receptor positive, she could be placed on hormonal treatments for years to come.

"This doesn't necessarily mean that her quality of life is going to be altered," the breast cancer specialist said. "Some patients do say that radiation therapy makes them a bit tired, but it doesn't cause nausea, vomiting, hair loss."

But Smith reiterated that there is ultimately no cure for metastatic disease.

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