Breast Cancer Treatment

Breast-conserving surgery (BCS)

If you have early-stage breast cancer, breast-conserving surgery (BCS) is often an option. BCS is also sometimes called a lumpectomy.

Instead of removing all of the breast, this type of surgery only removes your cancer and the tissues around it.

If your tumor is large or you have multiple areas of cancer in your breast, BCS may not be the right treatment for you.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses drugs to fight your specific type of breast cancer.

There are several chemo options for breast cancer. So your team will decide the right drug or combination of drugs for you.

Some chemo options work better for those with earlier stages of cancer. Others are available to treat breast cancer that has spread in the body.

Genetic counseling and testing

For some types of breast cancer, genetic testing and counseling is a helpful tool.

If you have a personal or family history of breast cancer, testing helps your team understand how your genes are related to your cancer. This can guide your treatment choices.

Hormone therapy

For some types of breast cancer, hormones in your body make them grow more quickly. This is known as hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.

Hormone therapy works to block the effects of hormones and prevent cancer from growing.

There are several types of hormone therapy. Some may reduce hormone production in your entire body. Others block hormones from reaching receptors on cancer cells.

Immunotherapy/targeted therapy

Immunotherapy, as opposed to chemotherapy, stimulates your own immune system to fight against your cancer, and now some immunotherapy agents are approved in the treatment of breast cancer patients.

Targeted therapies are monoclonal antibodies or small molecule inhibitors against specific markers or proteins that your tumor may over-express. These agents can be effective in fighting cancer and controlling the tumor, offering fewer side effects than chemotherapy.

Your medical team will decide if you are a candidate for immunotherapy or targeted agents.

Lumpectomy

A lumpectomy is also called breast-conserving surgery (BCS).

As its name suggests, this surgery only removes the “lump” or tumor in your breast and some of the tissue nearby.

Typically, a lumpectomy is only an option for breast cancer in its earliest stages. Often, you’ll have radiation therapy too.

Mastectomy

Mastectomy is a surgery that removes one or both breasts entirely.

You may choose this option as a way to treat breast cancer. But it also reduces the chance of breast cancer coming back.

In some cases, your surgeon will remove other tissues around the breast at the same time, such as lymph nodes.

The exact type of mastectomy you have depends on your type of breast cancer.

Modified radical mastectomy

A modified radical mastectomy includes the removal of other tissues along with your breast. Typically, this includes the lymph nodes under your arm.

It’s often an option when you have cancer that has only spread to the lymph nodes.

Advanced breast cancers may require a traditional radical mastectomy.

A traditional approach removes even more tissue than a modified one.

Pain management

Our pain management programs help you cope with pain during breast cancer treatment.

Some pain is caused by your breast cancer. Other times, you may have pain due to the side effects of a breast cancer treatment.

Pain management specialists work with your breast cancer team to include pain services in your complete plan of care.

Radiation therapy

Many people with breast cancer have radiation together with other treatments. This type of therapy targets breast cancer cells with high-energy radiation.

You may have external beam radiation for breast cancer which provides radiation using a machine outside the body. Or you may have internal radiation which places tiny radioactive seeds directly inside the area of cancer in your breast.

Simple or total mastectomy

Simple and total mastectomy are names for the same surgery.

This surgery removes all of your breast tissue, nipple, areola and skin. At the same time, it leaves most of the tissue around your breast in place.

You can have a total mastectomy on one or both breasts.