Women with breast cancer have many treatment options. These include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and biological therapy. These options are described below. Many women receive more than one type of treatment.
The choice of treatment depends mainly on the stage of the disease. Treatment options by stage are described below.
Your doctor can describe your treatment choices and the expected results. You may want to know how treatment may change your normal activities. You may want to know how you will look during and after treatment. You and your doctor can work together to develop a treatment plan that reflects your medical needs and personal values.
Cancer treatment is either local therapy or systemic therapy:
- Local therapy: Surgery and radiation therapy are local treatments. They remove or destroy cancer in the breast. When breast cancer has spread to other parts of the body, local therapy may be used to control the disease in those specific areas.
- Systemic therapy: Chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and biological therapy are systemic treatments. They enter the bloodstream and destroy or control cancer throughout the body. Some women with breast cancer have systemic therapy to shrink the tumor before surgery or radiation. Others have systemic therapy after surgery and/or radiation to prevent the cancer from coming back. Systemic treatments also are used for cancer that has spread.
Because cancer treatments often damage healthy cells and tissues, side effects are common. Side effects depend mainly on the type and extent of the treatment. Side effects may not be the same for each woman, and they may change from one treatment session to the next.
Before treatment starts, your health care team will explain possible side effects and suggest ways to help you manage them. NCI provides helpful booklets about cancer treatments and coping with side effects. These include Radiation Therapy and You, Chemotherapy and You, Biological Therapy, and Eating Hints for Cancer Patients.
At any stage of disease, supportive care is available to control pain and other symptoms, to relieve the side effects of treatment, and to ease emotional concerns. Information about such care is available on NCI's Web site at http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/coping and from Information Specialists at 1-800-4-CANCER or LiveHelp.
You may want to talk to your doctor about taking part in a clinical trial, a research study of new treatment methods. The section on "The Promise of Cancer Research" has more information about clinical trials.
You may want to ask your doctor these questions before your treatment begins:
- What did the hormone receptor test show? What did other lab tests show?
- Do any lymph nodes show signs of cancer?
- What is the stage of the disease? Has the cancer spread?
- What is the goal of treatment? What are my treatment choices? Which do you recommend for me? Why?
- What are the expected benefits of each kind of treatment?
- What are the risks and possible side effects of each treatment? How can side effects be managed?
- What can I do to prepare for treatment?
- Will I need to stay in the hospital? If so, for how long?
- What is the treatment likely to cost? Will my insurance cover the cost?
- How will treatment affect my normal activities?
- Would a clinical trial be appropriate for me?
