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Treatment of Breast Cancer
The treatment strategy for breast cancer depends on the stage of the disease and the goals of care for the individual. Treatment usually consists of a combination of surgery, medication, radiation, and/or chemotherapy. An elderly woman with a less aggressive type of cancer may wish to avoid aggressive treatments and pursue palliative (symptom relieving) treatments. However, in a younger woman, aggressive therapy targeted at achieving remission is usually desired. Transplantation procedures are available for individuals with advanced or recurrent disease.
Adjuvant therapy refers to the use of radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy or immunotherapy following surgery or other initial treatment in patients who have no detectable spread of cancer but are at risk. The goal of adjuvant therapy is to kill any undetected cancer cells so as to reduce the risk of recurrence and increase the chance of cure.
Neoadjuvant therapy refers the use of treatments (such as chemotherapy) before surgery with the goal of shrinking large tumors so that they are able to be removed by lumpectomy instead of mastectomy.
