Understanding Breast Cancer Radiotherapy
Even though radiotherapy is a standard treatment for most types of cancer, there are quite a few patients suffering from breast cancer that question the need for it after surgical removal of breast cancer tissues. It is a fact that around 30% of women that do not undergo radiotherapy experience cancer recurrence, even though they have gone through surgery to remove the cancerous tumor from their breast. Physicians often find it quite difficult to differentiate the healthy tissue around the cancer since it is somewhat complicated in measuring with detail the amounts of cancer cells. There is a possibility that there might be skip areas between cancerous tissues and tiny difficult to find satellite cancer tumors surrounding the area. It is also possible for cancer cells to travel via the breast duct system and develop outside the location of biopsy. Radiotherapy is very beneficial since it has a better likelihood [...]
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.