Making decisions about treatment

 

There are two major goals of breast cancer treatment:

1) To rid the body of the cancer as completely as possible.

2) To prevent cancer from returning.

 

How Is Treatment Determined?

The type of treatment recommended to you by your cancer specialist will depend on the size and location of the tumor in the breast, the results of lab tests done on the cancer cells and the stage or extent of the disease. Your doctor usually considers your age and general health as well as your feelings about the treatment options.

Systemic treatments are used to destroy or control cancer cells all over the body. They include:

Chemotherapy are medications that kill rapidly growing cells such as cancer cells. These drugs can be given either by mouth or intravenously. Chemotherapy medications are very powerful and can have many side effects. In general, chemotherapy is used for large tumors or for cancers that have spread to the under arm lymph nodes. Side effects can include nausea, hair loss, early menopause, hot flashes, fatigue and temporarily lowered blood counts.

Hormone therapy , including tamoxifen, and the aromatase inhibitors Arimidex, Aromasin and Femara. Hormone therapy uses drugs to prevent hormones, especially estrogen, from promoting the growth of breast cancer cells that may remain after breast cancer surgery.

Biological Therapy such as Herceptin works by using the body's immune system to destroy cancer cells. Herceptin targets breast cancer cells that have high levels of a protein called HER2.

Systemic Therapy can be given after local treatment (adjuvant therapy) or before (neoadjuvant therapy).

Adjuvant Therapy is used after local treatments to kill any cancer cells that remain in the body and may be in other parts of the body. A patient may have just one form of treatment or a combination, depending on her needs.