Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women, with an estimated 231,840 new cases representing 14.0% of all new cancer cases in the United States in 2015.1 Early screening and modern techniques of imaging and diagnosis have led to a significant improvement in detecting early-stage breast cancers and to a decrease in the incidence of metastatic breast cancer (MBC).2 About 20%-30% of patients who are initially diagnosed with an early-stage, nonmetastatic breast cancer will subsequently develop a distant metastatic disease. Between 6%-10% of the new breast cancer cases present initially as stage IV, referred to as de novo MBC.
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