How is Treatment Approached for Early-Stage Breast Cancer
- There are several different treatment options available to women with early-stage breast cancer.
- The treatment choice depends on several factors, including if and how much the cancer has spread, a woman’s overall health, and the biology of the tumor.
- In many cases, doctors will decide what additional treatment may be needed after performing surgery to remove the cancer.
In addition to providing information about treatment and the different types of cancer, the goal at SurvivorNet is to provide answers to other questions you may have after a diagnosis — like how you can adjust your lifestyle, or whether something like genetic testing is necessary.
Read MoreDr. Elizabeth Comen explains the standard treatment for early-stage breast cancers.
“Early stage breast cancer means that there’s a small tumor in the breast, that there are no lymph nodes affected,” Dr. Elizabeth Comen, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, explained to SurvivorNet in a previous conversation. “For stage one breast cancer, the first step is to remove the cancer. If a woman needs a lumpectomy, most often she will have radiation after that.
“In some instances, depending on her age, she may not need radiation,” she added. “Depending on the size and other features such as family history, a patient may opt for more aggressive surgery. So even for an early, stage one breast cancer, a woman may elect a mastectomy to remove her whole breast. Then, once that surgery happens, a pathologist is able to look at that tissue underneath the microscope and decide what treatment a woman needs after the surgery has removed it.”
Depending on several factors, including the stage of your cancer, your overall health, if and how much the cancer has spread, and the specific characteristics (biology) of your tumor, your doctor may suggest any of the following treatment options, or a combination of multiple:
“Even women with early-stage breast cancer, ideally, need some form of therapy after the removal of the cancer to prevent recurrence,” Dr. Comen added.
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