Fri, October 16, 2009

Part Four:  Breast Cancer awareness

Treatments for Breast Cancer

Q: What are the treatments for breast cancer?
A: The basic treatment choices for breast cancer are surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and hormonal therapy, which may or may not be included in the treatment regimen, depending on hormonal involvement in the growth of the tumor. Local treatments such as breast surgery and radiation therapy are focused on the breast itself to remove or destroy the cancer cells confined to the breast. Systemic treatment such as chemotherapy aims to destroy the cancer cells that may have spread throughout the body.

Newer experimental treatments include biologically targeted therapies which currently, are only available through clinical trials. A patient and his/her physician will choose the treatment that is right for him/her, based on the location and extent of the cancer, patient's age and preferences, and the risks and benefits of each treatment.

Surgery may be performed to remove the cancerous tumor, and may also be performed to allow for diagnostic testing of tumor tissue.

Radiation therapy uses penetrating beams of high-energy waves or streams of particles to kill and hinder the growth of cancer cells. In metastatic disease, radiation is most commonly used to treat symptoms in breast cancer that has spread to the bone.

Chemotherapy may be used if it is believed the breast cancer will not respond to hormonal treatment. Chemotherapy is the use of drugs that target and destroy rapidly dividing cells, including cancer cells. It is frequently used in metastatic breast cancer and used in locally advanced breast cancer to shrink the tumor and make it operable.

Hormonal therapy can be used to slow the growth, spread, and recurrence of breast cancer. If the cancer is found to be of the type that may be sensitive to estrogen, hormonal treatment may be able to keep estrogen from helping the cancer cells to grow and divide. The presence of estrogen receptors (a message-carrying protein that may stimulate tumor growth) in the cancerous tumor is the best way to predict a woman's response to hormonal treatment.

Biologically targeted therapy covers a range of new options that are to be added to the family of cancer treatments. These therapies target specific features of cancer cells to fight cancer. Since these therapies are specific, they are intended to have less effect on normal cells, which may reduce the chance of possible side effects, like those caused by current cancer treatments. Types of treatment include monoclonal antibodies, which bind to proteins on the cancer cell surface to slow down cancer cell growth; angiogenesis inhibitors, which are intended to prevent the growth of new blood vessels and so cut off the supply of oxygen and nutrients to cancer cells; and signal transduction inhibitors, which block the signals inside the cancer cell that promote the cells to divide and, in turn, cause the cancer to grow.

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