Breast Cancer and Treatment
A variety of treatments for breast cancer exist, and treatment is available at every stage of cancer. Most people need a combination of two or more treatments. After diagnosis, doctor will determine the stage of your cancer. Treatments for early-stage breast cancer may not be effective for advanced stage breast cancer.
Breast cancer is treated in several ways. It depends on the kind of breast cancer and how far it has spread. In cancer care, doctors specializing in different areas of cancer treatment-such as surgery, radiation oncology, and medical oncology-work together with radiologists and pathologists to create a patient overall treatment plan that combines different types of treatments. This is called a multidisciplinary team. Cancer care teams include a variety of other health care professionals, such as physician assistants, nurse practitioners, oncology nurses, social workers, pharmacists, counselors, nutritionists, and others.
For people older than 65, a geriatric oncologist or geriatrician may also be involved in their care. Ask the doctor in charge of your treatment which health care professionals will be part of your treatment team and what each of them do. This can change over time as your health care needs change. You should also ask who will be coordinating your care.
The stage (extent) of your breast cancer is an important factor in making decisions about your treatment. Most women with breast cancer in stages I, II, or III are treated with surgery, often followed by radiation therapy. Many women also get some kind of drug therapy. In general, the more the breast cancer has spread, the more treatment you will likely need. Stage I breast cancers are still relatively small and either have not spread to the lymph nodes or have spread to only a tiny area in the sentinel lymph node (the first lymph node to which cancer is likely to spread). Stage II cancers are treated with either breast-conserving surgery (BCS; sometimes called lumpectomy or partial mastectomy) or mastectomy. The nearby lymph nodes will also be checked, either with a sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) or an axillary lymph node dissection (ALND).