An important stage of the treatment of breast cancer is making choice among the treatment methods. When choosing, it is important to consider the advantages and disadvantages of different treatment options. The situation with breast cancer in the most developed countries is twofold. On the one hand, the prevalence of this already leading female malignancy is increasing.
Treatment options for breast cancer
The modern approach to breast cancer treatment gives high chances of cure, especially at early stages. If a tumor is relatively small, the first step would be surgery, when the tumor and surrounding tissues are excised. The removal of lymph nodes is always conducted to prevent relapse. When the tumor occupies more than 1/3 of the breast, a mastectomy is performed, and people should not be afraid of the intervention. Modern medicine solves the aesthetic problem through plastic surgery. Reconstructive surgery can be performed either simultaneously with the removal of the tumor or after it.
Radiation therapy is usually carried out after surgery to kill any remaining cancer cells. Irradiation with modern linear devices reduces the risk of breast cancer recurrence.
Treatment of breast cancer without surgery is extremely rare. If contraindications for surgery are present, chemotherapy is carried out. Targeted therapy can be used instead of conventional chemotherapy. The main peculiarity of this method is that medications with a targeted effect on cancer cells, but not on the healthy tissues are used. Targeted therapy for breast cancer is one of the special methods of treatment, which gives an excellent result.
If a patient is diagnosed with hormone-dependent breast cancer, hormone-blocking therapy is essential. In other cases, in the absence of estrogen and progesterone receptors in the tumor, hormone therapy will have no effects on tumor progression.
How different stages of breast cancer are treated?
As a rule, for all of the degrees of malignancy, the modern approaches for cancer management are combined for higher efficacy. The treatment program for each patient with breast cancer is elaborated individually after a comprehensive examination according to international standards. Although the regimen is individualized, the basic principles are applied to all patients. Methods are selected based on the stage of breast cancer, its manifestations, comorbidities, the spread of cancer cells to distant regions, and other factors.
At the first clinical stage, doctors carry out surgery. Since the malignant neoplasm is small, in most cases it is possible to preserve the breast. To prevent a recurrence, systemic drug therapy may be used further.
Treatment of stage 2 breast cancer includes quadrantectomy or mastectomy. The method of surgical intervention is chosen depending on the size and location of the tumor. Radiation therapy is obligatory after surgery for the second stage of breast cancer; it can be substituted with hormonal treatments, if necessary.
Since the third stage is often accompanied by metastases, removing the neoplasm is not enough to combat the pathology. To destroy the cancer cells, chemotherapy is prescribed.
At the fourth stage, cancer is not completely cured because of numerous metastases. Treatment is aimed at preventing the development of complications. The decision to carry out any treatment is made individually. Sometimes hormonal drugs are prescribed.
How to undergo treatment for breast cancer during a lockdown?
The number of things a person who organizes his treatment for the first time should keep in mind is literally overwhelming. And with a lockdown regimen, you can expect all of the questions to be resolved slower or, unfortunately, more difficult. However, not that many people know that there’s a way to get support on the matter by contacting the medical tourism company, one of the most transparent of which being Booking Health.
Booking Health will guide you through actions necessary from your side. From their side, Booking Health will take care of every organizational aspect that arises, from resolving the issues with a medical visa during a lockdown, to providing you with an interpreter for the treatment.
You can start the treatment for breast cancer right now. All that you have to do is to leave a request on the Booking Health website for a medical advisor to contact you.