Breast cancer is characterized by the transformation of cells in breast tissue into cells that divide uncontrollably and damage the surrounding normal tissue. Breast cancer affects one in eight woman at some point in their lives, according to MedlinePlus, an online medical encyclopedia sponsored by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. In fact, breast cancer is the second leading cause of death from cancer, behind only lung cancer. Breast cancer is primarily treated with breast-conserving surgeries, mastectomies or chemotherapy.
Breast-conserving Surgery
According to the American Cancer Society, most people with breast cancer have surgery to treat the cancer. One type of breast cancer surgery is breast-conserving surgery, which is performed when the doctor feels that the breast tumor can be removed without removing all of the breast tissue. A lumpectomy is one type of breast conserving surgery in which only the tumor and a very small amount of surrounding breast tissue are removed. A partial mastectomy involves the removal of slightly more breast tissue than a lumpectomy. In a quandrantectomy, about one quarter of the breast tissue is removed. The goal of these surgeries is to remove all of the cancerous tissue but to leaving any remaining normal breast tissue intact.
Mastectomy
If the cancer has growth is quite advanced, the American Cancer Society reports that a total mastectomy is performed as the primary therapy. Depending on the pattern of cancer growth, a woman may opt for a skin-sparing mastectomy in preparation for a breast implant. A radical mastectomy involves the removal of the same amount of breast tissue as a total mastectomy, but the chest muscles and underarm lymph nodes are removed as well.
Chemotherapy
BreastCancer.org, a nonprofit organization devoted to providing information about breast cancer and its treatment, notes that chemotherapy treats breast cancer by killing cancer cells and preventing them from growing and dividing. Chemotherapy is used as a primary therapy in late-stage breast cancers. In late-stage breast cancer, where the tumor is larger and perhaps has spread to other sites in the body, chemotherapy is used to kill as much of the cancer as possible.
