Breast cancer treatment

Breast cancer treatment varies depending on the stage and type of breast cancer, as well as individual factors such as age and overall health. Generally, breast cancer treatment involves a combination of surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and/or hormone therapy. Surgery is often the first step in breast cancer treatment, and it involves removing the tumor and surrounding tissue. This may be followed by radiation therapy, which uses high-energy X-rays to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment that uses drugs to kill cancer cells throughout the body. Targeted therapy is a type of treatment that targets specific proteins or genes in cancer cells to block their growth and spread. Hormone therapy is a treatment for breast cancers that are hormone-receptor positive, meaning they grow in response to estrogen or progesterone. Hormone therapy can be used to block the effects of these hormones on cancer cells. The treatment plan for each person