Treatment of Breast Cancer

Like any other cancer, breast cancer is identified in various stages from 1 to 4. These stages are decided based on the size of the tumour and how far it has spread in the patient’s body. The higher the stage, the higher the severity of the disease. Knowing the stage of the cancer is an important factor in making the decisions about the treatment. Most people with cancer up to stage 3 can be treated with surgery followed by radiation therapy. The best breast cancer surgeons in Mumbai can give the patients certain drug treatments depending on the stage of cancer. Most patients with cancer stages 1 to 3 will get some kind of drug therapy as a part of their treatment. This may include Chemotherapy, Hormone Therapy, HER2 targeted drugs or a combination of these. These types of drugs are given depending on the hormone receptor status of the tumour, HER2 status and other factors.

Treatment of Stage 1 Breast Cancer:

At this stage, cancer has the tendency to spread to adjacent healthy tissues. The tumour is about 20 millimetres or less at stage 1. The best doctors for breast cancer in India share the opinion that the treatment of this cancer involves lumpectomy (removal of the tumour and surrounding tissues) or mastectomy (complete or partial removal of the bread that has cancer). This stage of cancer can be cured with BCS (Breast-conservation surgery). If BCS is done, radiotherapy is usually given after the surgery to prevent the chances of cancer coming back. In some cases, breast reconstruction is done at the same time as surgery. But if someone needs radiation therapy, then it is better to get reconstruction after the radiation therapy is over.

Treatment of Stage 2 Breast Cancer:

In stage 2, cancer has spread to the adjacent lymph nodes (up to 3) and the size of the tumour is between 2-5 cms. Patients with stage 2 breast cancer are treated with BSC or mastectomy. Patients who have a mastectomy are treated with radiation therapy if the cancer is found in lymph nodes. If the patient is initially diagnosed with stage 2 cancer, treatments like chemotherapy and hormone therapy are recommended after the surgery. Radiation therapy might be recommended if the cancer is detected in the lymph nodes at the time of mastectomy. A radiation oncologist will review the case to recommend if radiation therapy would be helpful in such cases or not.

Treatment of Stage 3 Breast Cancer:

In stage 3 of breast cancer, the cancer cells have spread to more lymph nodes but not any distant organs and the size of the tumour has grown to 5 cm. These cancers are treated with a treatment called Neoadjuvant Therapy. This therapy is done before the surgery to shrink the size of the tumour. This makes it easy to surgically remove it. But, if the tumour doesn’t shrink, then lumpectomy or mastectomy can be done. Best doctors for breast cancers in India suggest that with Neoadjuvant chemotherapy, patients can dismiss the chances of surgery and become cancer-free.

Treatment of Stage 4 Breast Cancer:

Stage 4 cancer is termed as “incurable” but good treatments are available to make the patient comfortable and delay mortality. At this stage, the best doctors for breast cancer would focus on increasing the long-term survival of the patients rather than primarily curing it. Since cancer has spread to various organs, surgery is done very rarely as it plays a minimal role in the management of cancer. However, if limited organs are affected, good treatments can cure the symptoms and help the patient lead a better life.