top of page
All About Treatments
The following section will describe the variety of treatment options available for breast cancer.
There are two main categories of treatments for breast cancer:
Local Treatments
Local therapies are therapies that are meant to eliminate the cancer cells in breast(s) and lymph nodes. The two main types of local therapies are surgery and radiation therapy. Local therapies (combined with systemic therapies) are almost always a part of the treatment plan for stages 0-III breast cancer.
Surgery
Lymph Node Treatment
Radiation Therapy
Systemic Treatments
Systemic therapies are therapies meant to inhibit cancer growth and spread throughout the body, rather than solely in the breast. Systemic therapies are the main treatment for stage IV breast cancers, and are also used to prevent stage I, II, or III cancers from recurring after surgery or to prevent in situ (stage 0) cancers from becoming invasive. The type of systemic therapy you will receive will most likely be based on the molecular subtype of your cancer, or, in other words, which biomarkers your cancer cells possess (ER, PR, and/or HER2).
Hormone Therapy
Targeted Therapy
Chemotherapy
Immunotherapy
Yale Online. (2016). Introduction to Breast Cancer. https://online.yale.edu/courses/introduction-breast-cancer
American Cancer Society. Treating Breast Cancer. Retrieved from: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/breast-cancer/treatment.html
bottom of page