Many women are in addition to surgery, which may include radiotherapy, chemotherapy or hormone therapy. The decision, which requires further treatment based on stage and cancer, the presence of hormones and / or HER-2/neu receptor, and the health of patients and preferences.
Radiation therapy is used to kill cancer cells if left after surgery.
Radiation is a local treatment and, therefore, works only in tumor cells, which are directly within its range.
Radiation is used more often by people who have undergone conservative surgery such as lumpectomy. Conservative surgery is designed to leave the place as the breast tissue as possible.
Radiation therapy is given five days a week for five to six weeks. Each treatment lasts only a few minutes.
Radiation therapy is painless and has relatively few side effects. However, it can irritate skin or cause a sunburn sunburn in the region.
Chemotherapy involves the administration of drugs that kill cancer cells or stop them from growing. In breast cancer, three different chemotherapy strategies are used:
First Adjuvant chemotherapy is given to people who have had a cure for breast cancer such as surgery and radiotherapy. It is given to reduce the likelihood of cancer recurrence.
2. Presurgical chemotherapy is given to shrink a large tumor and / or to kill stray cancer cells. This increases the likelihood that surgery will get rid of cancer altogether.
3. Treatment with chemotherapy is routinely administered to women with breast cancer that has spread beyond the confines of the chest or local.
Most anticancer drugs given through the IV line, but some people are given the pills.
Chemotherapy is usually given in "cycles". Each cycle includes a period of intensive treatment that lasts a few days or weeks followed by a week or two for a refund. Most people with breast cancer have at least two, often four cycles of chemotherapy to begin. The tests are then repeated to see what treatment had an effect on cancer.
Chemotherapy differs from radiation in that it treats the whole body and can focus stray tumor cells that have migrated from the breast area.
Side effects of chemotherapy are well known. Side effects depend on the drugs are used. Many of these drugs have side effects that include hair loss, nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, fatigue and low blood cell counts. Low blood counts can cause patients to be more susceptible to infections, feeling sick and tired, or bleed easily than normal. Medications are available to treat or prevent most of these side effects.
Hormone therapy may be because breast cancer (particularly those with a lot of estrogen receptor or progesterone) are often sensitive to hormonal changes. Hormone therapy can be administered to prevent a recurrence of a tumor or treatment of existing diseases.
In some cases, it is beneficial to remove a woman's natural hormones with drugs, is beneficial to add other hormones.
In premenopausal women, ovarian ablation (removal of ovarian hormones) may be useful. This can be done with drugs that inhibit the ability of the ovaries to produce estrogen, or surgically removing the ovaries, radiation therapy, or less frequently.
Until recently, tamoxifen (Nolvadex), an anti-estrogen (a substance that blocks the effects of estrogens), hormone therapy was the most commonly prescribed. It is used both for prevention of breast cancer and treatment.
Fulvestrant (Faslodex) is another agent that acts via the estrogen receptor, but instead of blocking it, this drug eliminates. It can be effective if the breast cancer no longer responds to tamoxifen. Fulvestrant is given only to women already in menopause and is approved for use in women with advanced breast cancer.
Toremifene (Fareston) is another anti-estrogen tamoxifen closely linked.
Aromatase inhibitors, which prevent the effect of the hormone affects the central tumor, may be more effective than tamoxifen in the adjuvant setting. Drug, anastrozole (Arimidex), exemestane (Aromasin) and letrozole (Femera) have a different set of risks and side effects than tamoxifen.
Aromatase inhibitors are rapidly moving patterns in the first line hormonal treatment. In addition, frequently used after two or more years of tamoxifen therapy.
Megace (megestrol acetate) is a substance similar to progesterone, which can also be used as a hormone therapy.
Monoclonal antibodies are antibodies against proteins in or around a cancer cell. The antibodies recognize an "invader" - in this case a cancer cell - and attack.
Trastuzumab (Herceptin) is an antibody against the HER-2 protein, a protein responsible for the growth of cancer cells in many women with breast cancer (about 15-25% of breast cancers). Addition of trastuzumab to chemotherapy given after surgery has been shown to reduce the rate of recurrence and mortality in women with early breast cancer HER2/neu-positive. The use of trastuzumab with chemotherapy has become the standard adjuvant treatment for these women.
Lapatinib (Tykerb) is another drug that is directed against HER2/neu protein and can be administered in combination with chemotherapy. It is used in women with HER2-positive are no longer helped by chemotherapy and trastuzumab.
Another monoclonal antibody, Bevacixumab (Avastin) has been shown to have activity in treating breast cancer and is used in combination with chemotherapy. This compound targets the ability of cancer cells to form new blood vessels.
Surgery
Surgery is usually the first step after diagnosis of breast cancer. The type of surgery depends on the size and type of tumor and the patient's health and preferences.
Lumpectomy involves removal of cancerous tissue and a surrounding area of normal tissue. This is not considered curative, and should almost always be done in conjunction with other treatments such as radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy or hormonal therapy.
At that time, lumpectomy, axillary lymph nodes (glands in the armpit) is the estimated spread of cancer. This can be done either by removing the lymph nodes or sentinel node biopsy (biopsy of a lymph node closest to the tumor).
If a sentinel node biopsy is performed at the time of lumpectomy, may allow the surgeon to remove only some of the lymph nodes. In this procedure, a dye is injected into the tumor site. The way the substance is when it moves to the lymph nodes. At the first node is the sentinel node. This node is considered the most important for biopsy in the evaluation of tumor spread.
If the sentinel node biopsy is positive, the surgeon will usually remove all the lymph nodes in the armpit (axilla).
A simple chest to remove the entire breast, but not other structures. If the cancer is invasive, surgery alone will not cure. It 'a common treatment for ductal carcinoma in situ, non-invasive type of breast cancer.
Modified radical to remove the chest (armpit) lymph nodes of breast and axillary, but does not eliminate the underlying muscle in the chest. Although additional chemotherapy or hormonal therapy is almost always available, surgery alone is considered sufficient for the disease if it has metastasized.
Radical mastectomy involves removal of the breast and underlying muscles of the chest wall and content of the armpits. This is no longer done because current treatments are less bulky and has fewer complications.
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