Cancer becomes especially dangerous when it metastasizes — or spreads — to other parts of the body, including the brain. Breast cancer is more likely than many other cancers to spread to the brain, due in part to the large amounts of estrogen present in areas including the hippocampus, hypothalamus, and amygdala.
Ryan Ormond, MD, PhD, is a surgeon at the University of Colorado Cancer Center who treats breast cancer patients whose disease has spread to the brain. We spoke with Ormond — associate professor of neurosurgery in the University of Colorado School of Medicine — about how and why the metastasis happens, and how the treatment works.
