This post is published in conjunction with the Breast Cancer Awareness month. Please note that information presented in this article was extracted and adapted from various sources in the Internet, and that you are advised to consult your doctor for more information.
There are several ways to treat breast cancer, but three of the more popular treatments include:
- Surgical treatments
If mastectomy is the treatment of choice, the surgeon will remove the entire breast. In case of simple mastectomy, only the breast is removed and the lymph nodes are not explored. This type of surgery is generally not adequate for cancer, which has started invading the surrounding tissues, but if the breast cancer is still intact within a membrane without infiltration to surrounding tissue, a simple mastectomy may be appropriate.
Lumpectomy involves removal of breast lump with a safe margin of normal tissue around to make sure that the whole of the tumor was removed. If the edges of the surgical tissue is found to be involved with cancer the surgeon may advise a second surgery to remove more of breast tissue (re-resection).
- Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy and hormonal therapy are the main treatment options for metastatic breast cancer. Chemotherapy circulates in the bloodstream and travel to most of the organs and is effective in controlling the disease in most parts of the body (brain is a notable exception). The treatment length will largely depend upon the response of the tumor to the treatment and side effects from the chemotherapy. Giving chemotherapy prior to surgery however has not shown to have any survival benefit for breast cancer compared to chemotherapy after surgery. Metastatic breast cancer is sometimes treated with single agent chemotherapy drug or combination of chemotherapy drugs depending mainly on prior chemotherapy exposures.
- Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy involves treatment with X-ray beams. This works more or less like your regular X-ray beams, but they are much more powerful than the regular X-ray beams. These high-energy rays are designed to destroy cancer cells. Treatment with radiation is a form of local therapy; meaning that the treatment will work only at the place the beam hits the body. This treatment may be used to destroy cancer cells that remain in the breast, chest wall, or armpit area after surgery.
More on the Breast Cancer Awareness series:
- Breast cancer?! What?!
- Breast cancer-related statistics
- Breast cancer: Examine yourself
- Risk factors for breast cancer
- Breast cancer symptoms
- Breast cancer treatments
- Breast cancer news
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I’m glad that mum only had to have a lumpectomy, not mastectomy. I’ve heard of many women feeling degraded and no longer feeling feminine after a mastectomy I think there’s a movement by the government after Pink Ribbon Day to fund breast prosthetics for women who’ve had their breasts removed. It’s a good cause. I can’t imagine being in that position. Of course, it’d be good to be allowed to only have one breast and not have people look at you funny - it’d make life after surgery easier.
I never thought about chemotherapy not working for the brain before, but it’s plausible that the chemical molecules can’t pass up through the brain stem (because they’re too big).
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