With advances in cancer research, there are plenty of options to effectively treat breast cancer compared to even just a few years ago. Given the choices that you have at your disposal, it is all more important to know which treatment (or combination of treatments) will be help you battle breast cancer. The end goal of breast cancer treatments is to, firstly rid your body of cancer, and secondly to aid in the prevention of recurrent disease.
There are a few things that cancer specialists take into consideration before creating a cancer treatment plan. These factors include:
- Diagnosing the type of breast cancer.
- Evaluating the stage of the disease based on tumor growth of tumors.
- Determine rate of breast cancer progression.
- Identify receptors for HER2 protein, estrogen, and progesterone, etc., in tumors.
- Decide upon treatments based on age, if in menopause, and other pertinent health conditions.
There are two types of treatment that aid with the complete removal of and destroy the presence of cancer in the breast as well as other nearby tissues (i.e., lymph nodes):
- Breast cancer surgery
Surgery is one option where a portion or the whole breast is removed through a mastectomy, or lumpectomy (breast-conserving surgery) to eradicate the cancerous tissues.
- Radiation
Another option is radiation therapy, wherein high energy waves are used to completely destroy the cancer cells.
- Chemotherapy
Chemo employs powerful drugs that slowly kill the cancerous cells, but also have a variety of side effects including nausea, early menopause, hot flashes, fatigues, and hair loss.
- Hormone therapy
This drug therapy prevents estrogen hormones form aiding the growth of breast cancer cells. In some individuals with breast cancer, surgery is performed so that the ovaries are completely prevented from producing these hormones. Fulvestrant (Faslodex) is also an injection that keeps estrogen from attaching to cancer cells.
- Targeted therapy
This model of breast cancer treatment uses medicines strengthen the immune system to naturally attack the cancer cells, especially the HER2 receptors.
