There are many options available when faced with breast cancer, depending on the stage of cancer and location in the breast. Treatment often consists of more than one method, and your doctor will discuss which treatments are best for your type of breast cancer and your general health. Common treatments include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and hormone therapy.
Surgery
There are several types of surgery that can be used to treat breast cancer, including lumpectomy and mastectomy. According to the American Cancer Society, lumpectomy can also be called breast-conserving surgery. In this surgery, the breast tumor and a margin of surrounding healthy tissue is removed. How much of the breast is removed depends on the size and location of the tumor. Mastectomy involves the removal of all breast tissue, and sometimes other tissues, like the muscles underneath the breasts, although this is becoming increasingly rare. For women with early stage breast cancer (Stages I and II), lumpectomy and mastectomy have comparable survival rates.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation involves using high-energy rays to kill cancer cells by damaging the DNA of cancer cells. It can be administered in two ways: external beam radiation, which uses a machine to aim radiation to the area; and brachytherapy, which involves placing radioactive pellets or seeds inside your body near the cancer.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells throughout the entire body by going through the bloodstream. Although chemotherapy is often given intravenously, it can also be given orally or through catheters in other parts of the body, like the stomach or bladder. Treatment often consists of more than one drug, because multiple chemotherapy drugs have been shown to be more effective than using a single drug, the American Cancer Society says.
Hormone Therapy
The National Cancer Institute describes hormone therapy as treatment that removes or blocks hormones, which can stimulate the growth of some breast cancer cells. Estrogen feeds some breast cancer cells and enables them to grow, even in women who are postmenopausal. Tamoxifen is a commonly used hormone therapy drug, and there are other drugs called aromatase inhibitors that are used in postmenopausal women whose breast cancer is estrogen-receptor positive.
