Treatment Options For Breast Cancer

Healthcare providers use cancer staging systems to plan treatment. Staging cancer also helps providers set a prognosis, or what you can expect after treatment. Breast cancer staging depends on factors like breast cancer type, tumor size and location, and whether cancer has spread to other areas of your body.

Breast cancer stages are:

• Stage 0: The disease is noninvasive, meaning it hasn’t spread from your breast ducts to other parts of your breast.
• Stage I: There are cancerous cells in nearby breast tissue.
• Stage II: The cancerous cells have formed a tumor or tumors. The tumor is either smaller than 2 centimeters across and has spread to underarm lymph nodes or larger than 5 centimeters across but hasn’t spread to underarm lymph nodes. Tumors at this stage can measure anywhere between 2 and 5 centimeters across, and may or may not affect the nearby lymph nodes.
• Stage III: There’s breast cancer in nearby tissue and lymph nodes. Stage III is usually referred to as locally advanced breast cancer.
• Stage IV: Cancer has spread from your breast to areas like your bones, liver, lungs or brain.

Breast cancer is treated in several ways. It depends on the kind of breast cancer and how far it has spread. In general, there are five treatment options, and most treatment plans include a combination of the following:

• Surgery: Is an operation in which doctors cut out the cancer.
• Chemotherapy: Uses special medicines to shrink or kill the cancer. The drugs can be pills you take or medicines given in your veins, or sometimes both.
• Hormonal therapy: Blocks cancer cells from getting the hormones they need to grow.
• Biological therapy: Works with your body's immune system to help it fight cancer cells or to control side effects from other cancer treatments.
• Radiation therapy: Uses high-energy rays (similar to x-rays) to kill the cancer.

Some treatments are local, targeting just the area around the tumor. Others are systemic, targeting your whole body with cancer fighting agents.

For more information, visit the National Cancer Institute's Breast Cancer Treatment Option Overview. This site can also help you find health care services.

Which treatment is right for you?

Talk to your cancer doctor about the treatment options available for your type and stage of cancer. Your doctor can explain the risks and benefits of each treatment and their side effects. Side effects are how your body reacts to drugs or other treatments.