Types of breast cancer treatment

by Aaron Paul Medical Tourism

The breast cancer treatment depends on the both the medical condition as well as the personal choice of the patient. Typically the treatment depends on:

The condition of the tumor
The stage of the breast cancer
Other medical issues faced by the patient
The personal preferences of the patient

One needs to always keep in mind that even though two patients might suffer from breast cancer, the treatment for both the patients might differ. Basically the treatment can be either a local therapy or a systemic therapy.

Local Therapy for Cancer Treatment

In this therapy the cancer is removed from the local area (in this case the breast, lymph nodes and chest wall). This kind of treatment also ensures that the cancer does not recur in that area again. Local therapy involves surgery, with or without radiation therapy to the breast area.

Different kinds of surgeries

Lumpectomy – In this surgery, along with the tumor a small cancer-free margin of healthy tissue around the tumor too is removed. Most of the breast area remains intact and generally radiation therapy is recommended after the surgery is completed. It is for this reason that lumpectomy is also known as breast-conserving surgery, partial mastectomy and / or segmental mastectomy.

Mastectomy – This surgerical procedure involves the removal of the entire breast. Depending on your condition mastectomy can be either skin-sparing mastectomy (wherein the skin is preserved) or the nipple is preserved – and this condition is called total skin-sparing mastectomy.

There are also options like reconstructive surgery/ plastic surgery. Here shaping of new breast takes place through implants and tissue flap procedures.

Systemic therapy also known as Adjuvant Therapy

There are cases wherein the cancer cells of the breast spread to the other parts of the body. In such cases it becomes difficult to go for localized breast cancer treatment. And it is at this juncture that adjuvant therapy/ systemic therapy comes into the picture. Chemotherapy, hormone therapy and targeted therapy come under systemic therapy. These treatments travel throughout the body and try to get rid cancer cells which have spread to the other body parts.

Thus depending on the stage of breast cancer, one of the procedures is recommended by the doctors. Contrary to popular belief age has nothing to do with the treatment procedure. Rather the patient's other health conditions are taken into consideration. For eg. If the patient is pregnant or is a heart patient then a lot of thought needs to be paid on the kind of treatment to be administered to the patient. It is for this reason that it is advised to take opinion from highly experienced doctors before choosing the treatment process.

In case you want more information on breast cancer treatment in India, then you can visit www.manipalinternationalpatientcare.com or email at mipc@manipalhospitals.com.