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Treatment Options For Breast Cancer

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When you're diagnosed with breast cancer, these findings can be devastating. However, there's hope for saving your breast and life with the proper treatment. Various breast cancer treatment services are available depending on the extent of the disease and your preferences. Here are the different breast cancer treatments to consider.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy breast cancer treatment combines various drugs to slow the growth of, or destroy, cancer cells. These drugs are systemic and travel throughout your body. Doctors usually administer chemotherapy treatment in several sessions to allow the body cells to recover. Also, neoadjuvant chemotherapy can shrink a tumor for easy removal during surgery.

While chemotherapy destroys the fast-growing cancer cells, the treatment comes with various risks, including:

  • Reduction of red and white blood cells resulting in infections.

  • Hair loss as hair-producing cells may die

  • Numbing effect when the breast cancer affects the nerve cells

  • Poor appetite due to destruction of cells on the lining of the intestines

Chemotherapy has many risks but is an effective breast cancer treatment option.

Radiotherapy

Radiotherapy utilizes energy rays to kill cancer cells and only affects the treated area. Breast cancer treatment services usually use this treatment to eliminate the remaining breast cancer cells after surgery. This reduces the possibility of cancer recurring. The two types of radiotherapy are:

Whole breast. The treatment is also called external beam or traditional radiation therapy. A radiation machine delivers the rays that kill the cancer cells in the breast.

Internal breast cancer radiation. During this treatment, breast cancer treatment services inject a radioactive liquid in the target area where cancer originates and tissues closest to the tumor to destroy remaining cancer cells.

The side effects of radiotherapy include:

  • Breast heaviness

  • Redness and itchiness

  • Skin irritation or burning

  • Fatigue

Fortunately, your doctor can prescribe medication to manage these effects.

Hormonal Therapy

While hormones such as progesterone and estrogen control processes like menstruation, they can also cause cancer. Breast cancer treatment services carry out tests to establish whether the cancer cells contain receptors that feed on progesterone and estrogen. If yes, the doctor recommends hormone therapy drugs like hormone inhibitors or blockers to prevent the supply of the hormones to the cancer cells.

The potential side effects of hormonal therapy include:

  • Low libido

  • Nausea

  • Hot flashes

  • Pain

Breast cancer treatment services recommend that you switch between different hormonal treatments to help manage the side effects.

Radiotherapy, hormonal therapy and chemotherapy are common breast cancer treatments. Consider getting professional breast cancer treatment services to administer these treatments for the best results.

For more information about breast cancer treatment services, contact a provider near you.


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