There is a variety of treatments available for patients diagnosed with breast cancer. Since the circumstance under which one gets breast cancer is different for each person, knowing all the treatment options available will help one choose the most suitable treatment plan.
Surgery
Being one of the most common treatments, there are two types of breast cancer surgery – mastectomy and lumpectomy.
In a mastectomy, surgeons remove the whole breast. There are various types of mastectomy:
- total mastectomy
- preventive mastectomy
- partial mastectomy
- radical mastectomy
- modified radical mastectomy
To decide the suitable type of mastectomy for breast cancer patients, doctors have to depend on some factors such as age, health condition, menopause status, tumour size, tumour stages, and so on.
In a lumpectomy or partial mastectomy, the surgeons only remove the part of the cancerous cells and some of the breast tissues close to it.
Patients who opt for this type of surgery usually have a less than five cm single tumour.
They also have enough breast tissue so that the surgery won’t misshapen the breast. Patients are also able to follow up with radiation therapy after surgery.
Radiation therapy
Being the second common treatment, radiation therapy uses high-energy rays such as x-rays to kill off cancerous cells. The purpose of this method is to treat cancer without killing other healthy tissues.
This treatment can bring two kinds of side effects: early and late. The severity and the duration are different for each patient and there is no way to predict the effects and its level.
Some common early side effects are nausea and fatigue but these may go away in time.
Meanwhile, the late effects of radiation therapy such as lung and heart disease take years to happen and often affect the health of breast cancer patients permanently.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy or generally known as chemo uses strong cancer-killing drugs to treat cancer cells throughout the body, not only the breasts.
Based on the type of breast cancer; the size of the tumour; the patient’s health condition; and any other treatment the patient has taken, doctors will decide to use the treatment alone or together with other methods.
Chemotherapy aims to kill fast-growing cells, which can affect healthy cells and cause side-effects. Some of the side effects are related to the skin, hair, intestines, and bone marrow.
Hormone therapy
Hormones can contribute to the growing of cancer cells. For example, oestrogen can attach to a cancer cell and help it develop. Hormone therapy can deal with this situation by stopping oestrogen from attaching to the cancer cell. Women before and after menopause use different drugs from women who are post menopause.
Like chemotherapy, hormone therapy is also a systemic approach which means it can reach to almost anywhere in the body, treating cancer cells not only in the breast area.
Some of the side effects of this therapy include hot flashes and vaginal dryness.
Usually, breast cancer patients get a combination of treatments. For instance, one may get surgery and a combination of therapies afterward for a better outcome.
The types of treatment you get depends on your current condition such as the size and location of the lump, the type of breast cancer, whether you are pregnant or not, your age, and your personal wishes.
This article first appeared in hellodoktor.com and was written by Dr Bassam Abdul Rasool Hassan, a cancer treatment expert. The Hello Health Group does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.