3 treatment options for breast cancer patients
Millions of women worldwide are diagnosed with breast cancer each year . Such a diagnosis is never welcome , but women should know that survival rates have improved dramatically in recent decades . In fact , the World Health Organization reports that , by the end of 2020 , nearly eight million women were living despite having been diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in the previous half decade .
One of the reasons for the improved survival rates is the efficacy of various treatments . The National Breast Cancer Foundation , Inc .® notes that doctors have various options to treat breast cancer , and they often devise treatment plans that include some combination of treatments . Though no one wants to imagine receiving a breast cancer diagnosis , understanding the potential treatments for the disease can help women and their families be more prepared should that day ever arrive . The following are three treatment options physicians may discuss with women as they begin devising ways to overcome the disease .
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is used to treat various cancers , including breast cancer . Chemotherapy employs various drugs to destroy cancer cells or slow their growth . The drugs administered during chemotherapy are known as cytotoxic drugs and may be administered orally or intravenously . The NBCF notes that chemotherapy is offered to most patients , though doctors will consider a host of variables before deciding if chemotherapy is right for a given patient . Those variables include the type of tumor , its grade and its size .
Radiation therapy
During radiation treatments , high energy rays are used to kill cancer cells . Only cells in the part of the body that is being treated with radiation are affected , so patients needn ’ t worry that other parts of their body will be hit with radiation . The NBCF reports that patients diagnosed with Stage 0 ( DCIS ) and most diagnosed with Stage 1 invasive cancer or higher can expect doctors to prescribe radiation therapy . Women who have had a lumpectomy also are likely to be prescribed radiation . Two main kinds of radiation are generally considered for breast cancer patients . External beam breast cancer radiation treatment delivers cancer-killing rays through a large machine . Internal breast cancer radiation is a newer treatment that injects radioactive cancer-killing treatments into the affected area .
Targeted therapy
The NBCF reports that targeted therapy is commonly used in combination with traditional chemotherapy . Targeted therapy attacks specific breast cancer cells without harming normal cells , which is why it tends to produce less severe side effects than chemotherapy treatments . Targeted therapy employs drugs to block the growth of cancer cells in very specific ways . One example cited by the NBCF is the drug Trastuzumab , or Herceptin ®, which is given to women whose breast tumors have too much of the abnormal protein HER2 . Though the side effects of targeted therapies tend to be less severe , women may still experience issues like fever and chills , nausea , headaches , and other symptoms after drugs have been administered .
Expanding breast cancer treatments have done much to improve survival rates for patients . Women diagnosed with the disease are urged to play an active role in their treatments and ask any questions they might have before , during and after being treated .
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