Surgery is usually the first step in treating early breast cancer. It can be either a mastectomy (the entire breast is removed) or lumpectomy (only the abnormal tissue is removed, along with some nearby healthy tissue). With either type of surgery, some of the lymph nodes will be removed from the armpit to find out whether or not the cancer has spread there.
Some combination of radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and/or targeted therapy, such as trastuzumab (Herceptin), almost always follows surgery. These treatments help ensure that the body is completely rid of cancer. It is uncommon to have surgery as the only treatment. Which treatments you will need after surgery depends on the size of the tumor, the status of the lymph nodes and the characteristics of the tumor. For women, whether or not you are menopausal can also play a role in treatment choices.
For some women with large tumors, chemotherapy or hormone therapy may be used as the first step before surgery. Pre-operative, or neoadjuvant, therapy can shrink a large tumor enough so that lumpectomy becomes an option to mastectomy. For those with HER2/neu-positive breast cancer, trastuzumab (Herceptin) is included in neoadjuvant chemotherapy [63,72,73].
|
For more information on treatment for early breast cancer, visit the American Society for Clinical Oncology’s website for people living with cancer (www.cancer.net).
|
To learn more about factors that affect treatment options, see Diagnosis.
To learn more about each type of surgery and its risks and benefits, see Surgery.
To learn more about radiation therapy and its risks and benefits, see Radiation Therapy.
To learn more about chemotherapy and its risks and benefits, see Chemotherapy.
To learn more about taking tamoxifen and its risks and benefits, see Hormone Therapies.
To learn more about trastuzumab (Herceptin) and its risks and benefits, see Trastuzumab (Herceptin)
Updated 01/04/10
