Approach To Breast Cancer / Lump And Treatment For Breast Cancer
Introduction:
Breast Cancer is one of the
most common types of cancer found in women all across the globe. Breast Cancer
develops in the breast tissues. Formation of lump, change in the shape or size
of the breast, discharge from the nipples, red patches around the skin of the
breast or dimpling of skin, these all are the symptoms of the breast
cancer. Apart from these symptoms there
are certain symptoms also such as pain in the bone, swollen lymph nodes.
Approach to Breast
Cancer / Lump:
Clinical examination and self examination of breast should be performed
regularly. Majorly breast cancers get detected during mammography but for
further evaluation to know whether the lump is cystic or solid, women need to
go through ultrasonogarphy. Apart from physical examination, mammography and
ultrasonogarphy there are other various methods for the detection of breast
lump. They are:
MRI of breast
FNA - fine needle aspiration
The final diagnosis of breast carcinoma requires a breast biopsy.
Treatment
Of Breast Cancer Stages I-III
The stage of the breast cancer is one of the important factors
in making the decision about the treatment method.
Majority of women suffering from breast cancer stages I,
II or III are treated with surgery, followed by chemotherapy or radiations
therapy. The treatment options are affected by the personal preferences and
other information about the breast cancer, such as:
If the cancer cells contain hormone receptors (it means,
that if the cancer is ER-positive or PR-positive)
If the cancer cells have large amount of the HER2 protein (it means, that if
the cancer is HER2-positive)
How fast the cell are growing (measured by grade or Ki-67)
Overall health of the women
Whether the woman has gone through her menopause or not
Surgery:
For the treatment of breast cancer, surgery is considered
as main treatment. Breast conserving surgery (BCS) or mastectomy is the
surgical methods opted for the surgery. The nearby lymph nodes are also need to
be checked, wither with sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) or an axillary lymph
node dissection (ALND).
In other cases, breast reconstruction is done at the same
time of surgery to remove the cancer.
Radiation
Therapy: If BCS has been
performed, radiation therapy is usually given after the surgery to lower down
the re-development of cancer cell in the breast. Women who are above the age of
70 years can consider BCS without going for radiation therapy only if:
The tumor was 2 cm or less across and has been removed
completely.
None on the lymph nodes carry cancer cells.
The cancer is ER-positive or PR-positive and hormone therapy has been given.
STAGE I- At this stage the breast
cancer are relatively small and have not spread to the lymph nodes or might
have spread to a tiny area in the sentinel lymph node (the 1st lymph
node to which cancer is likely to spread out).
STAGE II- The size of the breast
cancer is larger in stage II as compared to that of stage I. In this stage the
cancer has already spread to a few nearby lymph nodes.
STAGE III- At stage III the cancer size
has increased that they have started growing into the nearby tissues (the kin
over the breast or the muscle underneath) too much that they have spread to
many nearby lymph nodes.
Doctor consultation is important for the further treatment process as most
women suffering from breast cancer goes through some kind of drug therapy as a
part of their treatment. This process includes:
Hormone Target Therapy: hormone
therapy (tamoxifen, an aromatase inhibitor, or one followed by the other). HER2
targeted drugs, such as trastuzumab (Herceptin) and pertuzumab (perjeta). These
types of drugs might work best depending on the tumor’s hormone receptor
status, HER2 status, and other factors.
Targeted
Breast Cancer Therapy:
In target therapy treatment only the specific
characteristics of cancer cells are treated, like proteins which are
responsible for the rapid or abnormal growth of cancer cells. Targeted
therapies are less harmful in comparison to chemotherapies, as in
chemotherapies the normal and healthy cells along with cancer cells gets
destroyed. Some targeted therapies work like antibodies, which are naturally
developed by our immune system. At times these targeted therapies are also
known as immune targeted therapies.
Pregnant women are not advised to undergo targeted
therapies as these therapies are not safe during the pregnancy period.
Below are the lists of the targeted therapies that doctor
use for the treatment of breast cancer:
Afinitor
(the chemical name is everolimus): Afinitor is an mTOR
(mammalian target of rapamycin) inhibitor. Afinitor works against the receptor
positive breast cancer cells which have stopped responding to Arimidex or
Femara. These inhibitor stops the cancer
cells from getting the energy they need.
Avastin (the chemical name is
bevacizumab): These work by blocking the growth of new blood vessels on which
the cancer cells depend to grow and function.
Herceptin (the chemical name is
trastuzumab): Herceptin works against HER2-postive breast cancers. They block
the ability of the cancer cells for receiving the chemical signals that
indicates the cells to grow.
Ibrance (the chemical name is
palbociclib): Ibrance is a cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor. Inbrance
works by stopping the cancer cells from further dividing and growing.
Kadcyla: (Chemical name- T-DM1 or
ado-trastuzumab emtansine) Kadcyla is the combination of Herceptin and the
chemotherapy medicine emtansine.
About
us:
Metro Group of Hospitals has a dedicated 155 bedded
facility, Metro Hospital and Cancer Institute, Preet Vihar, New Delhi, mainly
dedicated for treatment of cancer. The hospital boasts of highly experienced
team of medical, surgical, radiation, gynae oncologists and most advanced
technology for 360 degree cancer treatment. For more details or appointments
call: +91 88001 97020 / metro@metrohospitals.com.
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