Breast Cancer Screening Reviews

Recent advances in medical science have produced an explosion of life-saving treatment options to combat breast cancer, bringing hope and relief to the

Breast cancer treatment options

thousands who suffer from the disease. Modern techniques recognize that not all breast cancers are the same and today there is a great variety of ways how breast cancer can be treated that are designed to battle specific types of cancers. The choices — surgery, radiation, anti-estrogen therapy, and/or chemotherapy — can be overwhelming and making your ultimate decision can be a daunting task that will take a lot of patience and research.

After you have been diagnosed, your doctor will plan how you will be treated based on your pathology report and medical history. You should make sure that you are involved at this stage and ask as many questions as you can to inform and educate yourself about your condition and your treatment options. Feel free to do your own research and show your results to the doctor.  Your treatment plan will consist of one or more treatments specifically designed to target cancer cells in various ways and to reduce the risk of recurrence.

Read on for a brief overview of some of the most common breast cancer treatments.

Surgery:

Surgery is generally the first attack against breast cancer. Although any kind of surgery involves a certain degree of risk, the technology available today for breast cancer surgery has come a long way. Deciding on the appropriate type of surgery depends on the stage and nature of your cancer as well as your own medical condition and history. In some cases, patients have the opportunity to choose between two types of surgery – mastectomy and lumpectomy followed by radiation. The former involves the complete removal of the breast, whereas the latter is a breast-conserving surgery.

Chemotherapy:

The main purpose of chemotherapy is to eliminate the cancer cells that may have spread from the infected area to elsewhere in your body. The therapy is used to target cells that divide rapidly. However, the cancer cells are not the only cells in your body that divide rapidly. There are also cells in your mouth, blood, nails, nose, hair and vagina that undergo rapid division. This means that chemotherapy is likely to have a side effect on those areas as well. However, it must be said that chemotherapy is a lot easier to tolerate now than it was a few years ago. Most women feel that it is the most important step in reducing the chance of cancer recurrence. It should also be noted that organs such as the liver and kidneys are rarely affected by chemotherapy.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy, or radiotherapy, is a very effective technique to destroy cancer cells that might be lingering in the breast even after surgery. Radiation therapy has been shown to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence by up to 70 percent. Contrary to what many believe, radiotherapy is relatively easy to undergo and has limited side effects.

There are also a number of targeted therapy techniques such as Herceptin, Tykerb, Avastin and others, that are designed to be uncompromising on  the cancer cells and yet have little or limited side effects on other areas of the body. These techniques can be either alternatives to the above methods or they can be complementary.

Cancer is very difficult for anyone to deal with. It comes with many implications and poses hundreds of questions to the person who finds that they or someone they care about has it. Until a cure is found, new

Breast Cancer Radiation

information comes out daily on different studies and treatment options, all of which provide some hope to those to whom bad news has been given about their health.

Breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer after lung cancer. It is the fifth highest cause of cancer related death. This makes it one to be feared as well as one that women should become educated about.

One of the treatments used in the case of this disease is breast cancer radiation. This type of therapy is very useful and is especially effective in helping to prevent the recurrence of breast cancer after a lump has been removed.

Surgery is the main treatment used for breast cancer. Its purpose is to remove the cancerous tumors and cells, freeing the body of the disease. Surgery options vary, depending on the severity of the cancer and the stage of its development.

In some cases surgery will only be needed to remove the lump itself. This is known as lumpectomy and is a treatment that conserves the breast. In more advanced or serious cases, a mastectomy is necessary, meaning the removal of the breast. A lymph node dissection is another type of breast cancer surgery.

In any type of cancer surgery, it is very difficult to be sure that every cancerous cell has been removed. If they all haven’t, the chances are great that the cancer will develop again. Breast cancer radiation makes the likelihood of that happening much lower.

Radiation therapy is used after surgery. The purpose of the radiation is to kill any remaining cancer that may be left. This treatment has a good success rate.

Once cancer has been removed, a person is essentially cancer free. However, there is always the possibility that the cancer will come out of remission and the process will start again. With those who have undergone surgery, and then subsequently had breast cancer radiation, chances of the cancer growing back diminish by half to two thirds! That’s a great success rate.

In each individual case, the doctors involved will know best what treatments will be effective. Of course it is important to let them advise you on your options and the chances of success. If you do have surgery, and subsequent radiation therapy you, too, can hope to go back to leading a normal life without the fear of going through the long and taxing process of getting rid of the cancer all over again.