Elfgen C, et al. - Researchers performed an analysis of an unselected cohort of 367 patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) among whom MBC was diagnosed over a 22-year period (1990–2011) in order to challenge the concept of MBC as a chronic disease. They create a “chronic disease subgroup” by separating those patients in whom systemic therapy was not applied after the diagnosis of MBC (n = 53; 14.4%) from the entire cohort. The “chronic disease subgroup” comprised 314 patients (85.6%). According to findings, for selected MBC cases, the term “chronic disease” might be suitable, aligning MBC with “classical” chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. However, fundamental differences with regard to temporal progression and above all the case fatality rate were evident in most cases. Death of more than 90% of patients was reported in the “chronic disease subgroup” of the disease with a metastatic disease survival of 2–3 years (even those who underwent systemic palliative therapies). The term “chronic disease” might be perceived differently by doctors and patients. The investigators recommended using the term sparingly, and explaining it carefully in order to create a common level of communication based on a shared understanding that avoids offering false hopes and misleading expectations.