What Are Local And Systemic Treatments for Breast Cancer?

Question: What Are Local And Systemic Treatments for Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer is the uncontrolled growth of breast tissue cells. Sometimes the cells collect in one place and form a solid tumor. But breast cancer may also form in sheets or nests, as in Inflammatory Breast Cancer. In either case, cancer cells may invade nearby tissue, or travel to other parts of your body via your blood and lymph systems. Local and systemic treatments are given to prevent a recurrence or slow the growth of cancer. Let's take a look at the differences between local and systemic treatments for breast cancer.

Answer:

Local Treatments Keep It In The Neighborhood

Small, early-stage breast cancers may be referred to as localized cancer if they are well-contained at one site. A breast tumor may live in the neighborhood of your milk ducts, lobes, lymph nodes or nipples and areolas. Like healthy breast tissue, a tumor needs a good supply of blood and nutrients to keep alive. A tumor will try to support itself by hijacking your blood system with a process called angiogenesis. Early detection with a mammogram or ultrasound, confirmed by a biopsy, will help you prepare to kick this interloper out of town. Local treatment -- which includes surgery or radiation to the breast or nearby nodes -- affects the tumor and a small margin of tissue around it. Some good examples of local treatment for breast cancer include:

• Mastectomy or Lumpectomy surgery and Axillary Lymph Node Dissection (biopsy of the nodes in your armpit)
• Brachytherapy Radiation
• Partial Breast Radiation or Whole Breast Radiation
• IORT - Intraoperative Radiation Therapy

Systemic Treatments Take It On the Road

Breast cancer has the ability to spread beyond the site of your original tumor. It may begin as a small, localized tumor, but cancer cells may break through into surrounding tissue. When cancer cells burrow into tissue just outside the tumor, it is called Invasive Breast Cancer. Tumors want to live as long as possible, so they will harness your blood vessels and sometimes shed cells into other parts of your body on the highways of blood and lymph systems. If breast cancer spreads to distant organs or tissues, it is called Metastatic Breast Cancer. Systemic treatments can have a local effect, but are given primarily to prevent or treat distant disease. Systemic treatments for breast cancer can include:

• Chemotherapy
• Hormonal Therapy
• Targeted Biological Therapy

Choose The Right Avenue For Treatment

Your diagnosis will help to determine if local or systemic treatments are needed. It's a good idea to learn as much as you can about your breast cancer before you make your treatment decisions. To make sure that you're doing all that you can to prevent a recurrence of breast cancer, you may need to combine local and systemic treatments. Discuss your treatment options with your doctor and make a confident decision.

_Sources:

_{National Cancer Institute. Breast Cancer Treatment (PDQ®): Ductal Carcinoma In Situ. Last Modified: 03/05/2010.}

_{National Cancer Institute. Adjuvant and Neoadjuvant Therapy for Breast Cancer. Reviewed: 06/16/2009.}