Breast Cancer Stage Treatment

Breast Cancer Stage Treatment

If you have been diagnosed with breast cancer, there is a variety of treatment options open to you. The type of treatment that is most appropriate for you will depend on breast cancer stage you have been diagnosed with.

In the case of early stage invasive breast cancer, a breast-conserving surgery might be the most appropriate breast cancer stage treatment, provided that the cancer is not too large. If it is, a mastectomy will be required. In some cases, pre-operative chemotherapy can reduce the size of the tumor sufficiently to permit breast-conserving surgery. In either case, your lymph nodes will have to be examined and removed if found to be infected. If you have had breast-conserving surgery you will almost certainly need radiation therapy after the surgery. At each breast cancer stage, treatment options are different.

Stage I

Cancers that are comparatively small and are limited in area of infection are classified as Stage I. Specifically, a stage I cancer will not have spread to the lymph nodes. At the first breast cancer stage, treatment options include lumpectomy (breast-conserving surgery) or partial mastectomy. Breast reconstruction surgery can be performed either immediately following the main surgery or at a later date. In almost all cases, radiation therapy is necessary after lumpectomy in order to eliminate cancer cells that may have affected other areas of the body and to reduce the chance of cancer recurrence.

Stage II

Larger cancers that have spread to one or more lymph nodes are classified as stage II. Surgery and the subsequent radiation therapy for this stage are similar to the previous stage, with the only difference being that in stage II radiation therapy might be necessary even after mastectomy. The decision on whether radiation therapy is required will depend on the size of the tumor and the number of lymph nodes discovered to be affected after the surgery. Adjuvant systemic therapy, which involves chemotherapy, hormone therapy and trastuzumab, may also be recommended at this stage. For women prefer breast-conserving surgery at this stage, neoadjuvant therapy might be necessary before the therapy in order to reduce the size of the tumor.

Stage III

Treatment for stage III breast cancers is similar to that for stage II cancers. Either lumpectomy or mastectomy may be used, followed by radiation therapy depending on the size of the tumor and the number of lymph nodes affected. Neoadjuvant therapy may be necessary before breast-conserving surgery and adjuvant systemic therapy may be required after either type of surgery. More advanced cases of stage II breast cancers may be treated with chemotherapy prior to the surgery.

Stage IV

Cancers that have spread beyond the breasts/lymph nodes to other parts of the body are classified as stage IV. At this stage, it is rare that surgery will be of any help in completely removing the infected cells. Instead systemic therapy is the only viable treatment option. Depending on a number of factors, this may include chemotherapy, hormone therapy and targeted therapy such as Herceptin and Avastin. It must be noted that all systemic therapies that combat breast cancer have side effects. You need to consult your doctor about the benefits and potential risks associated with targeted therapy.

 

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: Breast Cancer Treatment, Breast Cancer Screening, Breast Cancer Stage Treatment

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