Breast Cancer Treatment Options

You found out that you have breast cancer. After the initial shock, you need to know, just what your breast cancer treatment options are. First the doctor tells you what kind of cancer and what stage of cancer you have. Without those two items he could not explain what the options are.

The treatment for the cancer is based on tests that tell the doctor exactly how to treat your cancer. That is the only type of cancer you need treated and everyone is different.

Breast cancer treatment options for local therapy include surgery and radiation therapy. These types of treatments remove or destroy cancer in the breast.

Breast cancer treatment options for systematic therapy include hormone therapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy. These are done by introducing drugs into the blood stream which destroys or controls cancer throughout the body.

Once all of the tests, which include finding out the result of the hormone receptor test, what stage your cancer is at, and the result of the HER2/neu test, along with how your general health is at this moment, will determine which form of breast cancer treatment options are needed.

Your doctor puts all of these factors together, then analyzes the results and discusses what your breast cancer treatment options are. He lets you know how your body will react to the treatments, what you can expect as side effects and what the chances are after the treatments has been finished.

Please understand at any stage in your treatment supportive care is always available to you for management of pain or side effects. You will have a team on your side to help you understand what is happening to your body at all times. You will not be alone in this.
Ask your doctor if there are any new drugs that a clinical study is being done that could be a possibility for your stage of cancer.  Advances in cancer research are being found every day. He may refer you to an oncologist for further study to see if you qualify for any upcoming clinical study.