Typically more than one therapy is required to treat breast cancer. This often includes surgery as well as one or more treatment regimens proven to fight the type of breast cancer a patient has.
Your oncologist will conduct tests to determine if the breast cancer is:
Based on the results of these tests a combination of therapies will be determined, using research to choose a treatment plan that has shown the best results for patients with similar cancer.
The following are general categories of breast cancer therapies that the doctor may choose to use alone or in combination with one another. The specific set of treatments will be determined by the stage and type of breast cancer as well as the patient’s health status.
Chemotherapy for breast cancer may be given before or after surgery:
The specific medicines administered are dependent on the type of breast cancer and the woman’s health status. At NYOH, we follow the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Clinical Practice Guidelines.
Oncologists often use radiation therapy to treat breast cancer. The type of radiation therapy that may be most effective will be determined by the breast cancer treatment team and discussed with the patient. The most common radiation treatment is external radiation therapy.
In external radiation therapy, the radiation comes from a large machine outside the body. This type of treatment is given often -- typically 5 days a week -- over several weeks.
At New York Oncology Hematology, patients receive treatment at one of our seven convenient office locations. You do not need to go to a hospital for this treatment. New York Oncology Hematology offers the latest radiation therapy at technology, including IMRT, 3-D Conformal Radiation Therapy, and TruBeam Radiotherapy.
If the patient’s breast cancer shows that it has hormone receptors then hormone therapy may be an option. Hormone therapy keeps cancer cells from getting or using the natural hormones (estrogen and progesterone) they need to grow. Hormone therapy may be given in combination with other treatments.
If the patient has not gone through menopause, the options include:
If the patient has already gone through menopause, the options change:
Targeted therapy blocks the breast cancer cell’s ability to grow. This is especially useful for patients with HER2 positive breast cancer. Targeted therapies will block the HER2 protein so that it can’t help to grow the cancer. These medicines can be given through an IV, with or without chemotherapy, or in a pill form. Options will vary based on what type of treatment your doctor feels would work best for you.
Breast HDR brachytherapy is a form of high dose rate radiation therapy that is delivered from within the breast using catheters rather than external radiation beams.
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