by Dr Pandula Siribaddana

Created on: March 09, 2010

Breast cancer is a cancer that occurs in relation to breast tissues and can be fatal if the diagnosis and the establishment of the treatment processes are delayed. But, if detected early, it would probably be one of the best treated cancers among women.

A patient who is diagnosed of breast cancer will be subjected to different types of treatment options and the selection of these options will depend on the nature of the tumor, its stage, patients’ general condition as well as the histological grading of the tumor. The team of doctors who will be taking over the management of the patient will look into several categories of treatment and the following are some of the main options available.

*Surgical treatment

*Radiotherapy to the affected tissues

*Hormonal treatment

*Chemotherapy or the use of medicines to counteract the cancer cells.

Surgical options:

This can be considered as the mainstay of treatment and different surgical options are available based on the above factors related to the cancer. Thus, if the tumor is well localized and easily excised, a ‘lumpectomy’ can be performed to completely take off the cancerous part. In certain instances, ‘Partial mastectomy’ can be performed in which part of the breast is removed while leaving a section of the breast tissues on the same side. In ‘total mastectomy’, the affected breast on the affected side will be removed. Contrastingly, in ‘modified radical mastectomy’, it will not only remove the entire breast but also the underlying muscle lining as well as part of the muscle wall. Lastly, in radical mastectomy, the modified radical mastectomy procedure will be followed in addition to removal of the entire muscle wall underlying the affected breast as well as the lymph nodes underneath the arm.

In most instances, the surgical options will be followed by other types of treatment and it can give better results in the long run.

Radiotherapy:

This will make use of radiation emitted by the x-rays in destroying the cancer cells and at times the normal cells surrounding the region as well. The process can be applied in different techniques and in its basic classification, external beam radiotherapy and internal radiotherapy could be considered the most widely used.

Chemotherapy:

In chemotherapy, cytotoxic drugs will be used in order to destroy the fast growing and unique cancer cells but it would make the patient undergo many side effects during and after the treatment process. Usually, the treatment will follow several cycles and at the end of it, periodical investigations will be done in order to identify re-activations.

Hormonal therapy:

In this method, the hormonal maintenance factors of a cancer will be abolished or removed and thus makes the tumor to recede without intervention.

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