Reportedly, 1 in 8 American women are diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, which leaves little surprised that breast cancer claims more women’s lives compared to any other type of cancer. When it comes to effectively treating breast cancer, every patient is different. Doctors will base breast cancer treatment plans on several individual factors—such as cancer stage, family history, and ect.—and of course, the early the cancer is diagnosed, often the best chances of successful treatment.
Specialists often treat breast cancer with a combination of these common treatments:
1. Radiation
Radiation therapy is a common treatment option for many different types of cancer. Radiation therapy aims to eradicate cancer cells by directing high levels of radiation on a cancerous tumor or specific area of the body. The most common types of radiation therapy include Internal Breast Cancer Radiation, which The interior plants a device or injects a radioactive drug directly into the tissue of a cancerous tumor, and and External Bearm Breast Cancer Radiation, which has the patient lying down while a large radiation machine focuses and directs cancer-killing rays directly at cancer cells.
2. Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy describes several drugs administered via IV through blood stream in order to decrease cancer cell growth and destroy tumors. Chemotherapy is personalized to the patient as far as duration, dosage, and strength based on cancer type, tumor size, stage, grade, and patient health, however, typically this cancer therapy is completed over several weeks or months with a break to give healthy cells the opportunity to recover and regrow following treatment as chemotherapy often destroys health cells (i.e., hair loss) as well.
3. Surgery
Surgery is commonly used initially to remove the majority of breast cancer tumors. Breast cancer surgery removes the tumor and “margins”, which are surrounding healthy tissue in order to prevent cancer from spreading. Chemotherapy can be recommended for aggressive tumors prior to surgery in order to shrink a tumor as much as possible before removing it. Common surgeries used for breast cancer include:
- Lumpectomy, or partial mastectomy, which removes the main tumor and healthy surrounding tissues.
- Mastectomy surgery removes the entire affected breast to eradicate tumors that have spread beyond the “margins”.
- The final breast cancer surgery removes the entire breast plus nearby lymph nodes if the cancer has spread to the lymphatic system.
4. Targeted therapy
As the name suggests, targeted therapy is very specialized breast cancer therapy that identifies the specific genetic mutations and characteristics of a cancer’s progression and treats these specific alterations. Take for example a breast cancer of the HER2 gene that produces abnormal HER2 protein levels. With targeted therapies specific drugs (i.e., lapatinib or trastuzumad) are administered to kill only cancer cells with excessive HER2 protein.
