[ad_1]
A diagnosis of breast cancer can be devastating for many women. Nearly 12.4% of women will develop invasive breast cancer during their lifetime, according to breastcancer.org.
One of the first questions they will ask is about treatment. Dr. Katherine HR Tkaczuk, Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Director of the Breast Cancer Assessment and Treatment Program at the Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Research Center from the University of Maryland, talk about what women can expect after learning about breast cancer.
After diagnosing breast cancer, what will determine if a woman needs radiation therapy?
Breast radiotherapy is recommended for all women with stage 1, 2 and 3 breast cancer who have undergone breast conservation (lumpectomy surgery). In addition, some women at higher risk of recurrence, such as women with stage 3 breast cancer, may receive radiation therapy after a mastectomy.
What will determine if she needs chemotherapy?
The need for adjuvant chemotherapy in early stage (stage 1-3) breast cancer relies on many factors, such as the tumor stage (tumor size, number of lymph nodes involved) and the number of cases. estrogen, progesterone, HER2 expression and tumor grade. People with HER2-positive breast cancer have a protein that nourishes the growth of cancer cells.
Women with stage 3 breast cancer will almost always be considered for chemotherapy. Women with triple negative or HER2 positive cancer will be more often considered for chemotherapy. Women with HER2-positive breast cancer will still receive "HER2 inhibitors", anti-HER2 agents, such as trastuzumab with or without Pertuzumab in chemotherapy.
In some cases, when the cancer is positive for estrogen and the progesterone receptor and negative for HER2, oncologists may request additional tumor tests to determine if chemotherapy will be beneficial. When these tests show that the risk of recurrence of the tumor is low or medium, hormonal treatments, such as aromatase inhibitors or tamoxifen, are recommended.
What are the side effects that women may feel after treatment?
During chemotherapy, women may experience many side effects such as fatigue, low blood count, increased risk of infections, anemia, hair loss, nausea, vomiting, and neuropathy symptoms. These side effects are usually temporary and should disappear once chemotherapy is complete. The majority of women are able to continue working and doing their daily activities. However, we recommend rest, shorter work hours and intermittent work schedules, if necessary.
Hormonal therapies, which block the production of estrogen or estrogen receptors, are recommended for breast cancer patients with estrogen or progesterone; In addition, medications called aromatase inhibitors can cause joint and muscle pain and can also accelerate postmenopausal bone loss.
Women with HER2-positive breast cancer will receive antiHER2 treatment, first with chemotherapy, then in turn to complete an antiHER2 treatment lasting 12 months. These treatments can cause minor reactions such as fever or chills and can rarely contribute to a decrease in cardiac function.
What determines whether a woman will have her breasts removed and will need a reconstructive surgery?
The majority of women with early-stage breast cancer do not need to undergo a mastectomy. Several large randomized clinical trials have shown that breast conservation surgery (lumpectomy) with radiotherapy is as effective as mastectomy for the treatment of early-stage breast cancer. In some cases, if the breast tumor is very large or there are multiple tumors in different quadrants of the breast, a mastectomy is recommended.
Patients with breast cancer should carefully consider their surgical options and discuss them with their surgeons. When mutations are present in genes known as BRCA 1 or 2, women may consider prophylactic mastectomy surgery, or removal of one or both breasts, due to a significantly increased risk increased to develop more breast cancers during their lifetime.
Most women with early-stage breast cancer who need to undergo a mastectomy can undergo breast reconstruction. At the University of Maryland Breast Assessment and Treatment Program, we recommend plastic surgery consultations to all patients undergoing mastectomy.
What are some of the things that women are surprised to experience with breast cancer?
Although the majority of women with early-stage breast cancer are cured, they are often surprised that we recommend postoperative treatment, such as hormone therapy, for up to 10 to 15 years.
Some doctors are starting to wonder if they overestimate some women with breast cancer. Why is it and how does a woman know if she is being treated too much?
The concept of overtreatment of cancer has evolved in recent years; Cancer physicians tend to use more aggressive chemotherapy treatments for certain subtypes of breast tumors, such as triple-negative or HER2-positive breast cancers. One of the most recent recent advances in the treatment of early-stage breast cancer is the ability to better define who needs chemotherapy and recognize that patients with certain HER2-negative tumors at Positive estrogen receptors, which have not spread to the lymph nodes, are considered low risk and do not need chemotherapy. New genomic tumor tests such as OncotypeDx or Mammaprint help to better define who will benefit from chemotherapy.
Once the treatment of women is over, what are the side effects that they should know about?
Once the treatments are completed, most women return to their original state. women with breast cancer presenting with positive estrogens will remain on oral hormone therapy for five to 15 years, and some have muscle and joint pains and hot flashes with these treatments. For all breast cancer patients, we recommend continuing to follow up every four to six months for five years, then annually. Screening mammograms are recommended every 12 months, with the exception of initial short-term follow-up and six months after surgery and radiation therapy.
[ad_2]
Source link
