Breast Cancer Treatment: The Options
By Pam Stephan, About.com Guide to Breast Cancer
After your breast cancer has been diagnosed, your healthcare team will recommend treatment. There are five standard treatment options for breast cancer: surgery, chemotherapy, targeted therapies, radiation, and hormonal therapy. Learn about each one and how a decision on which is right for you is made.
Surgery
The goals of breast cancer surgery are to remove the cancerous tissue and to analyze it for type, grade, size, hormonal status, and possible metastasis (if the cancer has spread). There are both diagnostic and therapeutic surgeries, as well as reconstruction options. Learn about biopsy types, lumpectomy, quadrantectomy, and mastectomy.
- Therapeutic Surgery Overview
- Lumpectomy - Breast Conserving Surgery
- Four Types of Mastectomy
- Breast Biopsy Types
- Sentinel Node Biopsy
- Surgery Choices and Early-Stage Breast Cancer
- Mastectomy or Lumpectomy – 10 Questions to Help You Decide
- Surgical Margins Are Important
Radiation
Cancer cells grow and divide much more quickly than healthy cells, and their internal functions are not well organized. This makes them more susceptible to damage from radiation treatment, and therefore less able to repair themselves and recover. That is the reason that they are destroyed by the radiation.
- Radiation Methods
- How does Radiation Work on Breast Cancer?
- SAVI Breast Brachytherapy Device - Minimal Side Effects
- Balloon Catheter Radiation - Accelerated Partial Breast Radiation
- DVS Dosimeter for Prevention of Radiation Burns
- What is a Radiology Oncologist?
Chemotherapy
Cancer is uncontrolled cell growth, and chemotherapy targets rapidly diving cells throughout your body. Chemotherapy is considered systemic therapy because, like systemic (metastatic) cancer, it goes everywhere in your body's systems. Chemotherapy is used to kill cancer cells and prevent recurrence.
- Chemotherapy Basics
- Chemotherapy Tips - Before Your First Infusion
- Fertility and Chemotherapy
- Adriamycn (Doxorubicin)
- Cytoxan (Cyclophosphamide)
- 5-FU Fluorouracil
- Taxol (paclitaxel)Drug Description
- Ixempra (Ixabepilone) for Metastatic Breast Cancer
- Chemotherapy Basics
Hormonal Therapy
Breast cancers are frequently dependent on estrogen for their growth. Anti-estrogen hormone therapy starves tumor cells of the estrogen they need to grow, resulting in cancer cell death. This type of therapy may be delivered before surgery, or at the same time as radiation. You may need to take hormonal therapy for five years after you're finished with primary treatment to prevent the cancer from coming back.
- Hormonal Treatments for Breast Cancer
- AIs - Aromatase Inhibitors - One Way to Lower Estrogen
- SERMs - Selective Estrogen-Receptor Modulators
- Tamoxifen - Estrogen Receptor Blocker
- Aromasin - Aromatase Inhibitor
- Femara (Letrozole) - - An Aromatase Inhibitor
Targeted Biologic Therapies
Targeted Biologic Therapies are drugs that can be added to chemotherapy, to target specific cancer cells. Herceptin, Avastin, and Tykerb are all approved for use as targeted therapies for breast cancer.
- Targeted Therapy for Breast Cancer Treatment
- Avastin Anti-Angiogenesis Therapy
- Herceptin as a Breast Cancer Treatment
- Iressa (Gefitinib) for HER-2 Negative Breast Cancer
- Tykerb (lapatinib)for HER2 Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer
- PARP Inhibitors for Herediraty and Triple Negative Breast Cancer
Cope With Side Effects of Treatment
Cancer treatments can cause side effects, which in turn, need to be treated or prevented. You don't have to just grit your teeth and suffer - here are common side effects and ways to get help for them. Here's some advice on ways to care for yourself and recover from side effects of chemo and radiation for breast cancer.
