Breast Surgery

Breast Cancer Treatment

Breast cancer treatment is divided into local and systemic treatments: Local treatments – surgery and radiation are considered local treatments. Systemic treatment – Chemotherapy, Hormone therapy, Targeted therapy and Immunotherapy are considered systemic therapies for breast cancer.

Local breast cancer treatments

Surgery

Factors evaluated when determining surgical options:

Breast-conserving surgery

Also called lumpectomy or partial mastectomy

Advantages of breast conserving surgery

Disadvantages of lumpectomy

Mastectomy

A surgery in which entire breast is removed

Advantages of mastectomy

Disadvantages of mastectomy

Some women might worry that having a less extensive surgery might rise their risk of the cancer coming back. But studies following thousands of women for more than 20 years show that when breast conservation surgery is done with radiation, survival is the same as having a mastectomy in people who are candidates for both types of surgery.

Lymph nodal evaluation

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