People living with early-stage breast cancer may not realize how advanced treatment options have become over time; both surgical techniques and radiation therapy treatments have become more precise and targeted.
Radiation therapy uses x-rays to kill cancerous cells in and around the breast. Patients typically undergo breast conserving surgery followed by daily radiation treatments over six weeks.
Oncology Rehabilitation
Your cancer treatments depend on its type and extent. Your care team could include specialists such as surgeons, medical oncologists and radiation oncologists; together they’ll come up with a plan for treating it. Chemotherapy or hormone therapy could also help shrink tumors while mitigating side effects from radiation or surgery treatments.
Your treatment may include rehabilitation services to help restore strength and energy for daily activities while managing side effects of cancer treatment. Rehabilitation appointments will likely need to take place several times each week over weeks or months; finding a center close to home or work can make attending easier; speak to your doctor about outpatient cancer rehabilitation programs in your area, as well as understanding which ones your health insurance covers.
Rehabilitation is currently recommended in various cancer guidelines; however, utilization rates indicate suboptimal guideline adherence for rehabilitation services. To improve guideline concordant care and increase utilization rates more efficiently, rehabilitation professionals could participate in guideline development efforts more actively while using electronic health records more frequently to monitor symptoms burden and utilize guideline-based clinical pathways more effectively.
Cancer patients may seek alternative treatments such as acupuncture for various reasons, including to avoid radiation and reduce costs associated with conventional cancer care. While some alternative remedies have scientific support, others can be considered pseudoalternatives promoted by unscrupulous or well-meaning but misinformed individuals. Please seek medical advice before undertaking an alternative therapy as taking such measures could cause severe harm.
Pain Management
Apart from medications used to manage pain, doctors may employ other techniques and modalities, including massage therapy, acupuncture and hypnotherapy. A doctor will work closely with you to understand your individual needs and goals so they can effectively help manage pain while helping you live well despite it.
Physicians begin by reviewing your medical history, medication list and any previous diagnostic studies (X-rays, MRI and CT scans). Next they’ll conduct a physical exam before ordering imaging tests (such as an X-ray or MRI) to pinpoint the source of pain. Pain management is a complex field within medicine which often requires multidisciplinary teams of professionals working together.
A comprehensive team may consist of medical practitioners, pharmacists, clinical psychologists, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and recreational therapists working together to offer cancer patients living with chronic pain a holistic solution for pain management that improves quality of life.
A physiotherapist may teach patients exercises to increase range of motion and decrease stiffness, while psychologists provide help with learning coping techniques and stress reduction strategies. Nutritionists offer advice about eating healthily during treatment processes while also providing referrals to dietitians with expertise in dietary support for cancer patients.
Your doctor should be informed about any complementary or alternative treatments you are contemplating and can assess them for efficacy and safety, steering you away from those lacking scientific proof of efficacy and safety. Your physician can also protect you from pseudoalternatives promoted by unscrupulous individuals such as quacks who claim special knowledge of natural healing beyond what mainstream practitioners provide.
Chemotherapy
Breast cancer treatments may include chemotherapy, which uses anti-cancer drugs to kill cancerous cells and shrink tumors. Chemotherapy may be used either alone or combined with surgery and radiation therapy, depending on what your doctor determines to be the most suitable approach. A medical oncologist will plan your chemotherapy treatments.
Chemotherapy is typically administered after surgery to destroy any remaining cancer cells and shrink a large tumor, also known as adjuvant chemotherapy. Your physician will tailor their recommendation based on the type of cancer and risk factors relevant to you.
New research suggests that women who undergo lumpectomy for certain early-stage breast cancers could forgoing radiation without increasing the odds of it reoccurring. The findings were presented at the 2022 annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology. Specifically, patients 55 or older with nonaggressive tumors that hadn’t spread beyond lymph nodes – these tumors were estrogen receptor-positive but HER2-negative; with an adequate margin of healthy tissue surrounding them – could opt out and instead receive medication known as endocrine therapy which would continue for five years instead.
This medication works to stop cancer cells from using estrogen to grow and spread, making them less aggressive in their growth and spread. It is most effective for women with estrogen receptor-positive, HER2-negative tumors in good health; however, it will not stop future episodes from returning. For your own safety and the best outcome possible from treatment, always speak with your healthcare provider regarding any questions or concerns about it; furthermore be wary of alternative remedies claiming to treat or cure breast cancer since many lack scientific backing.
Targeted Therapies
Recent years have witnessed scientists developing medicines that target certain features within or on the surface of cancer cells to help control its growth and diminish symptoms or eliminate them altogether. These targeted therapies may be taken alone or combined with chemotherapy and radiation therapies as appropriate treatment plans.
Many types of cancer cells rely on genetic mutations or abnormal proteins to proliferate and spread, while new drugs can stop or slow this growth without harming healthy cells, with reduced side effects than traditional chemotherapy treatments.
These medications include signal transduction inhibitors that block signals that tell cancer cells to divide and spread, like those sent by proteins called HER2. Trastuzumab (Herceptin) acts to target this protein and stop it from receiving the “Grow! Grow! Grow!” message.
Angiogenesis inhibitors provide another type of targeted therapy by blocking or slowing the formation of new blood vessels needed by cancer cells to access oxygen and nutrients, helping shrink tumors while making them simpler to treat with radiation or surgery.
Monoclonal antibodies used in this category of medications to directly target cancer cells for chemotherapy treatment can be found here, making this drug class particularly helpful against breast cancer, lymphoma and some other cancer types.
Other targeted therapies utilize the body’s natural immune system to attack cancer cells, such as those caused by gene mutations. Your doctor can give more details on which targeted drugs would best treat your illness as well as possible side effects, including skin changes or changes to intestinal function; diarrhea; high blood pressure or problems clotting wound healing, while some could harm an embryo fetus; so women who might become pregnant must take steps to avoid becoming pregnant while using certain targeted drugs.
Radiation
Radiation therapy uses high-energy radiation beams to destroy cancer cells and shrink tumors. It may be combined with other cancer therapies like surgery, chemotherapy and immunotherapy drugs that aim to stop or slow cancer cell growth; in some instances however, radiation alone may suffice.
Radiation may lead to side effects like swelling and pain. Radioprotective drugs, also called radio-sparing drugs, may help alleviate some of these side effects and should be taken before, during, or after radiation treatments. Radiation may also have adverse impacts on blood counts; in such an event it might be necessary to pause or interrupt radiation treatment until blood counts recover sufficiently before continuing therapy.
Radiation therapy is often recommended after breast surgery to destroy any remaining cancer cells and lower the risk of recurrence (recurrence). It’s highly advised for early stage breast cancer cases removed via lumpectomy rather than full mastectomy.
New technologies enable doctors to give shorter and higher doses of radiation therapy in fewer sessions, for instance through intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT). IORT directs radiation directly onto tumor sites after removal by surgeon, thus lessening damage to healthy tissues.
Accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI), another viable treatment option, aims to decrease treatment time and enhance aesthetic outcomes by targeting only the area where the original tumor exists. It may be particularly effective for patients who either have smaller tumors or positive sentinel lymph nodes; WBI offers similar outcomes. Recent head-to-head studies confirm this strategy’s potential as an alternative solution.
