The breasts are made up of a number of milk-producing lobules, which are connected to the nipple by a series of tubes, called ducts. The lobules and ducts are surrounded by fat, connective tissue, lymph nodes and blood vessels. Breast cancer occurs when cells of the nipple, lobules or ducts mutate and begin to divide uncontrollably, leading to the development of a tumor. There are a number of treatments for breast cancer, which can effectively kill breast tumors and prevent cancer recurrence.
Lumpectomy or Mastectomy
Surgery is one of the primary treatments for breast cancer. It involves removing the tumor and any surrounding tissue which may contain cancer cells. Breast cancer surgery can be classified as a lumpectomy, or breast-conserving surgery, or a mastectomy, which removes the entire breast tissue.
Lumpectomy procedures can be done in patients whose breast cancer has well-defined borders, when the cancer has not invaded neighboring tissue. Patients who undergo a lumpectomy usually also receive other forms of cancer therapy to prevent recurrence.
Mastectomy involves complete removal of the breast tissue. Some types of mastectomies may cut out the breast tissue while leaving the overlying skin, areola and parts of the nipple, to allow reconstructive surgery of the breast. More severe forms of mastectomy, such as radical mastectomy, remove the breast tissue, overlying skin, and remove part of the musculature of the chest. Radical mastectomies are used to treat aggressive cancers which have spread to the neighboring tissue.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy is used to treat most cases of breast cancer. The treatment involves use of radiation to irreparably damaging cancer cells to prevent further development or recurrence of cancer. Radiation works by severely damaging the cells' DNA, making it impossible for the cancer cells to make the proteins they need to grow. The therapy can sometimes be used to shrink cancer tissue in place of a mastectomy, which is called breast conservation treatment.
According to the University of California, clinical trials have shown that radiation therapy as a breast conservation therapy can be as effective as a mastectomy in treating cancer and preventing recurrence. Additionally, using radiation therapy after a mastectomy in patients with very advanced breast cancer can improve patient survival rates.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells to help treat and shrink breast tumors. There are a number of chemotherapy drugs available to fight breast cancer, which can effectively kill cells. Often, chemotherapy drugs are extremely toxic to normal cells as well as cancer cells, so chemotherapy can have a number of unpleasant side effects, although chemotherapy drugs are sometimes designed to selectively target cancer cells to minimize these side effects.
The University of Virginia states that chemotherapy can be used before or after breast cancer surgery. Chemotherapy may be administered before surgery to kill part of the tumor, to allow for a breast conserving surgery instead of a mastectomy. More commonly, chemotherapy is given after breast cancer surgery to prevent recurrence of the tumor.
