Last Updated on August 18, 2022 by Nurse Vicky

What is the Treatment of Breast Cancer?

If you have been diagnosed with breast cancer, you are probably wondering:

what is the treatment? Well, you may have heard of chemotherapy, surgery, or adjuvant radiation therapy.

You may also have heard of Sentinel lymph node biopsy. However, you may be wondering: what is the best way to treat breast cancer?

In this article, we will take a look at these various types of treatment. Listed below are a few of the most common methods.

Adjuvant radiation therapy

Postoperative care for patients with breast cancer aims to prevent recurrence and kill the remaining cancer cells.

The remaining cancer cells are often undetectable by the surgeon but have the potential to grow over time.

Such treatment is called adjuvant therapy and may include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapies, immunotherapy, hormonal therapy, and/or hormone replacement therapy.

If your doctor thinks you are a candidate for adjuvant therapy, you should discuss the options with your surgeon.

When cancer spreads to lymph nodes, doctors may recommend radiation therapy.

In some cases, chemotherapy is given first and radiation therapy is given after surgery.

Patients who have undergone lumpectomy may not need radiation therapy.

Adjuvant radiation therapy is also recommended if the tumors are larger than the lymph node capsule or have spread to the skin.

Patients may be offered radiation therapy following chemotherapy as an alternative to mastectomy.

Patients who have undergone up-front surgery and have one to three pathologically positive nodes will generally benefit from adjuvant RT.

If this is the case, adjuvant RT may be an option. In these cases, a patient may receive BCS or mastectomy plus SLNB, or complete ALND.

This treatment strategy is often more effective than mastectomy alone. But the risks of radiation therapy cannot be ignored.

In the study described above, patients undergoing RNI were significantly more likely to achieve a complete response than patients with PCR.

In addition, RT was associated with reduced rates of first recurrence and death due to breast cancer.

However, despite the benefits of adjuvant RT, most patients were not treated using CT simulation, which could have helped physicians optimize the dose to the tumor while sparing the normal tissue.

Chemotherapy

Patients with breast cancer receive chemotherapy treatments to kill cancer cells.

Most of these drugs are given through a thin plastic tube that is inserted into the vein, but some are given by oral tablet.

Chemotherapy is usually administered in a hospital or day unit.

The patient will have a port placed into a vein in the arm or chest to receive chemotherapy drugs.

Chemotherapy is usually given over a period of a few sessions.

Chemotherapy is usually administered as a series of treatments followed by a period of rest.

During chemotherapy, drugs that attack cancer cells are used to shrink tumors. These drugs also affect healthy cells.

However, they recover. Chemotherapy is usually used for patients with cancer that is located within the breast, chest, and lymph glands.

However, it can be used for cancer cells that have spread to other parts of the body.

For example, chemotherapy can be used to treat aggressive cancer types.

Generally, chemotherapy is given in cycles. One treatment cycle lasts around two to three weeks, with a break of two or three weeks between cycles.

The number of treatments depends on the type of cancer and the individual’s health and other factors. Some types of chemotherapy are given once a week, while others are given on different days.

The frequency and dosage of these treatments may vary. For example, the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine may be given on days one, day eight, and day 15 of a 28-day cycle.

Chemotherapy is an effective way to fight breast cancer. It works by killing cancer cells while decreasing the number of cancer cells in the body.

This type of treatment is often combined with other methods to help the patient achieve a cure or improve their quality of life.

However, chemotherapy is only one treatment for cancer of the breast. The treatment must be carefully planned and monitored to ensure a good outcome.

Surgery

If cancer has spread outside the breast, surgeons may recommend surgery to remove it. Although surgery can remove cancer cells, microscopic cells may remain outside the breast.

Generally, patients undergo systemic treatment of medication after surgery to ensure that the cancer is completely removed.

In some cases, patients may require more than one surgery. The surgeon may recommend chemotherapy or radiation therapy in addition to surgery. The outcome of surgery is not always known until a biopsy is performed.

If the tumor is smaller, it may be possible to perform a partial or full mastectomy instead.

This type of surgery is also often more effective for people with triple-negative breast cancer, which has spread to lymph nodes. Some doctors may prescribe additional drugs, such as pembrolizumab and carboplatin.

These drugs can decrease the risk of cancer recurrence. Drug therapies can also be given after surgery to slow the growth of cancer.

Surgical oncologists may recommend a lumpectomy or a mastectomy. A mastectomy removes the entire breast, including the nipple area.

Radiation therapy may also be recommended, particularly for younger women or those with aggressive cancer.

A lumpectomy may also be referred to as a partial mastectomy, a quadrantectomy, or a segmental mastectomy.

Surgical oncologists may perform one or both of these procedures depending on the size and location of the tumor.

In addition to the breast tissue, surgeons may perform axillary lymph node dissection during surgery.

During this procedure, the surgeon will remove 10-20 lymph nodes under the arm. This procedure may lead to lymphedema.

If this is the case, patients should talk with their doctors about whether this surgery will be appropriate.

If the sentinel lymph nodes are not cancerous, they may not need further treatment in the axilla.

Sentinel lymph node biopsy

A sentinel lymph node biopsy is a surgical procedure in which a radioactive dye or other substance is injected into a lymph node.

The sentinel lymph node will then be removed by a surgeon. The nodes will be inspected by a pathologist for cancer cells.

Before the surgery, patients will be put under general anesthesia, which will keep them unconscious.

Once an anesthetic is administered, a camera will be used to take pictures of the area.

During the procedure, the doctor will use this to determine whether cancer cells are present in the node.

In order to determine if a sentinel node contains cancer cells, the surgeon will inject a blue dye or radioactive substance into the lymphatic system near the tumor.

Using a special probe, the surgeon will identify the sentinel node. The sentinel node is then sent to a pathologist for microscopic evaluation.

The pathologist will then determine if the sentinel lymph node contains cancer cells.

Surgical removal of multiple lymph nodes can result in harmful side effects.

In some cases, a sentinel lymph node biopsy can be sufficient for staging and preventing regional recurrence of breast cancer.

However, if a woman has no clinical evidence that her axillary lymph nodes have metastasis, a sentinel lymph node biopsy will be enough.

While the procedure is safe, there are some risks. The procedure can cause bruising, swelling, or pain. In addition, the dye can cause changes in a patient’s urine and skin color.

Although sentinel lymph node biopsy is not a common procedure, it is not without complications.

For example, it is very important to discuss these risks with your doctor before undergoing the procedure

 immunotherapy,

While many cancers respond to immunotherapy, some don’t. Breast cancer tumors tend to have few immunological cells, resulting in a “cold” tumor.

Cancer immunotherapy drugs are designed to target these “cold” tumors.

According to a National Institutes of Health study, “classical immunological cold” cancers include most breast cancers, glioblastomas, ovarian cancer, and pancreatic tumors.”

One treatment method uses tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), which are white blood cells that fight infections and cancer.

Doctors choose these cells based on how well they recognize the “neoantigens” (specific proteins produced by cancer cells).

These immune cells are then introduced into a patient’s bloodstream as an IV drip. Patients may respond to several different types of immunotherapy treatments.

While the success rate of immunotherapy treatments is still low for patients with metastatic breast cancer, recent studies indicate that the therapy has a high chance of improving the survival rate for some cancers.

It has significantly improved the survival rates of patients with certain types of cancer.

It is still too early to know whether immunotherapy will improve survival rates in women with breast cancer. It is best to consult with a physician if you suspect you might benefit from immunotherapy.

While many cancer immunotherapy treatments are in clinical trials, the majority of patients will eventually have to discontinue immunotherapy treatment if they experience side effects. In severe cases, oral steroids or other immunosuppressive medications may be prescribed to reduce the patient’s immune response.

Immunotherapy may be used as part of chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer patients, and as a preoperative treatment for triple-negative breast cancer.

In addition to undergoing chemotherapy, it may be used to treat various types of breast cancer.

FAQ

Sometimes breast cancer spreads, or metastasizes, through the bloodstream to other parts of the body. It can lead to tumors in your brain, bones, liver, lung, and elsewhere. Complications may include blocked blood vessels, bone fractures, and pressure on the spinal cord.

 Conclusion

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