Breast Cancer Treatment
After diagnosis, a breast cancer treatment of choice is decided between the health care providers and patients. Such choice is generally dependent on the patient’s preference, but necessarily, it is reliant to the stage, risk factors of appearance, other unique features of the tumor, and the overall physical condition. Some breast cancer treatments are common in treatment of other cancer types.
Breast cancer treatment categories are divided into surgery options, chemotherapy, radiation, hormonal therapy, and other complementary therapies.
Surgery can be performed in several ways. The most common surgical procedures applied in breast cancer treatment are lumpectomy, mastectomy, and segmental excision. Lumpectomy is the elimination of the breast lump which requires radiotherapy after the procedure to make sure that the tumor does not return.
Mastectomy is the elimination of greater sections of the tissue, or elimination of the entire breast tissue. Segmental excision is the removal of the tumor and a small region of normal breast tissue that conserves the breast.
Chemotherapy as another breast cancer treatment involves the use of drugs that kill the malfunctioning cells. Chemotherapy may be adjuvant (precedes surgical intervention) or therapeutic (reduction of tumor size before surgery). In both cases, the goal is to totally remove the tumor. Another use for chemotherapy is for palliative treatment where metastases are existent and chemotherapy aims to slow down the expansion of the cancer cells. Chemotherapy may be administered orally or intravenously. Treatment cycles are developed allowing patients to recover every after chemotherapy session. Chemotherapy affect both cancer cells and normal cells which leads to the popular negative side effects such as fatigue, hair loss, nausea, and low appetite and leucocyte levels.
Radiotherapy is a breast cancer treatment applied on the affected zone. It aims to destroy malignant cells and is usually performed after a surgical operation such as lumpectomy. Patients have to undergo radiotherapy five times every week for a period of one month and a half. The duration lasts for a few minutes and does not involve pain. Moreover, lesser side effects are experienced; and when there is, it is of lower gravity. The most common side effect is an inflammation on the skin that looks like small sunburns.
Hormonal therapy is another breast cancer treatment that use estrogen and progesterone levels to influence breast cancer. Tamoxifen is one of the most commonly used hormone treatments. It reduces the estrogen production and studies have shown positive results and its prevention uses.
Other complementary therapies include nutritional support involving a healthy diet; naturopathic medicine that covers a broad range of botanical medicines, homeopathic remidies, vitamin and mineral supplements, acupuncture, and more; mind-body medicine including counseling, support groups, guided imagery, relaxation, and stress management trainings; spiritual support where spirituality can play a vital role in coping with and fighting cancer; pain management consisting, but not limited, pain reduction treatments, visualization, and meditation; and physical therapy that encourages cancer patients to engage in moderate cardiovascular exercise during the treatment process.
Whatever the breast cancer treatment preference there is for every individual patient, it is best to consult the experts on all the possible options available and the consequences of each.
