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Traditional Treatment Options for
Breast Cancer
Below is some cursory information on the traditional treatments of breast cancer. For an extensive review of all currently available modalities in the U.S. and abroad, including non-traditional therapies, please visit my section on the Moss Reports. After recovering as
best as one can from the staggering news that one has breast cancer,
it’s time to make some decisions about treatment options.
Treatment options are often determined by the staging of the
cancer (in situ, invasive, lymph node involvement, metastases etc.).
But before we get too far into this, let’s emphasize an
important point. Consider
getting a second opinion on both the diagnosis and the treatment.
Misdiagnosis occurs more frequently that the establishment would
like to admit, and it cuts (no pun intended) both ways. I have spoken to quite a few women who were told they had a
benign growth who later developed raging cancers. In
general, you will have four major areas of options: surgery, radiation,
chemotherapy and hormonal therapy.
Most often, combinations are used, and the choices are driven by
the stage of the disease. Surgery:
The oldest of approaches (actually thousands of years old)
surgery is often the most effective option.
There are currently three major types of surgery for breast
cancer.
The type of surgery
performed is usually determined by the stage of the disease. Radiation:
Often the physician will recommend radiation as an adjunct after
surgery. Simply put,
radiation damages cells that are rapidly dividing (like cancer).
The hope is that any local area into which cancer cells have
invaded will be irradiated sufficiently to kill any malignancies.
Radiation
is normally administered every weekday for about six weeks.
The procedure is almost always performed on an outpatient basis.
The actual “zapping” only lasts a few minutes.
Often,
the radiation oncologist will prescribe a “booster dose” at the end
of they cycle. Sometimes
this is administered by implanting radioactive beads that stay in place
for about 36 hours. Chemotherapy:
The most dreaded of all. Thoughts
of uncontrolled nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea come to mind for most
when they think of chemotherapy. Actually
it isn’t as bad as it used to be.
Unlike radiation, chemotherapy traverses the whole body, killing
rapidly dividing cells. Besides
cancer cells, other rapidly dividing cells include the lining of the
gastrointestinal tract, blood cells, and hair.
Damage to these cells results in the troublesome side effects
associated with chemotherapy. The
most common chemotherapeutic agents used in breast cancer are
cyclophosphamide or Cytoxan
( C ), methotrexate (M) 5 fluorouracil or 5FU (F), Adriamycin or
doxorubicin (A), Oncovin or vincristine (O) and Taxol (T).
Various combinations are utilized and given intials like CMF, CAF,
etc. in keeping with the abbreviations mentioned previously.
Chemotherapy
is usually given in cycles. Two
common cycles are the 3 week and the four week cycle.
In the 3 week cycle, there is a 3 week break between chemotherapy
treatments. The four week
cycle has two weeks on and two weeks off.
These cycles can run from 12 weeks to over a year depending on
many factors. Hormone
Therapy: Think
Tamoxifen (Nolvadex). Right
now, this is the hormone therapy most often employed.
Physicians run tests on the cancer cells to see if they are
stimulated by estrogen. If
they are, the cancer is referred to as estrogen receptor positive.
Tamoxifen works by blocking estrogen. Tamoxifen is also often
employed when the cancer is estrogen receptor negative, especially in
women over 50. It is not fully understood why Tamoxifen helps in some
cases of estrogen receptor negative cancers.
This
article is a very brief overview of traditional treatment options.
The actual decision on which therapies are right for you involve
many complex factors that should be discussed with a competent health
care professional. Article by Michael Guthrie, R.Ph. |
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"Alternative Cancer Treatments"
Michael Guthrie,
R.Ph. CGP 2003-2006
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