Treatment for Breast cancer
Treatment of breast cancer is based on:
The aim of the treatment would be:
The following are some of the treatments opted cure breast cancer.
Surgery:
Surgery is done to remove the cancer from the breast through breast conserving surgery, lymph nodes from under arm is removed through axillary lymph node dissection or sentinel node biopsy. In some cases the whole breast may be removed through mastectomy.
Radiation Therapy:
This therapy involves exposing to high-energy radiation generated by radioactive substances like cobalt using specialized equipment. These radiations destroy the cancer cells and shrink the tumor.
Hh Chemotherapy:
This therapy involves using drugs to wipe out the cancer cells. The drugs are designed to cause more harm to the cancer cells. Most drugs are not selective and normal cells also undergo certain amount of damage. Hence, chemotherapy affects normal cells and also causing side-effects. Chemotherapic drugs kill the cancer cells by attacking certain pathways and processes important to the cancer cells’ survival and growth. Chemotherapic drugs are given intravenously through cycles or orally. Some of the chemotherapeutic drugs used are cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, epirubicin, fluorouracil, methotrexate and paclitaxel.
Hormonal Therapy:
This is done using tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor, which is an estrogen-blocking drug. It changes the route of the hormones, which lead to cause cancer.1
Biological Therapy:
Natural substances or slightly modified natural substances like herceptin works on the body immune system to eliminate the cancer cells. Herceptin targets the breast cancer cells with has increased levels of protein called HER2.
Side-Effects of Breast Cancer treatment
- Chemotherapy causes nausea, vomiting, infertility problems and early menopause by destroying the eggs in the ovaries.
- Hormonal therapy causes vaginal dryness and hot flashes after menopause.
- Herceptin can cause heart problems by weakening the heart muscles.
- Side-effects of radiation therapy include swelling in the breast, reddening and blistering of the skin and fatigue.
Next page: Signs and symptoms of breast cancer
Written by: Healthplus24 team
Date last updated: April 22, 2012