What are some treatment options for people diagnosed with breast cancer?
Treatment options continue to get better. For women with an early stage of breast cancer, when the tumor is small and confined to the breast, treatment might be a lumpectomy (surgical removal of the tumor), possibly followed by radiation or chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is when medications are given over a period of time to kill off any cancer cells that might be circulating in the body. Sometimes a lumpectomy alone is enough. If the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes under the arm, then those would be surgically removed as well. In later stages, a mastectomy (removal of the breast) would be performed. In these cases, the woman would have some form of chemotherapy and perhaps radiation. Radiation is a type of high-energy X-ray that can kill cancer cells. Radiation doses are now lower and more accurate than just 10 years ago.
