What are the chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer?

It is expected that benefits in older women would be even more modest.

The most important advances in the cure of breast cancer have come through the use of drug, also called systemic, therapy. Surgery and chemotherapy/radiation therapy are effective for treating tumors confined to the breast but not for cancer cells that have spread. In such cases, drug therapy is needed.

Drugs works systemically. That is, they kill cancer cells throughout the body rather than just in the breast or nearby tissue. They are particularly beneficial for women who have microscopic evidence of the spread of cancer at the time of diagnosis. The use of drug therapy is designed to kill these residual breast cancer cells before they have a chance to become clinically evident.

Drug therapy may be used after surgery or radiotherapy or as primary therapy for patients for whom surgery or radiation therapy is not appropriate. Drug therapy also can be used prior to local treatments (neoadjuvant therapy) with the goal of shrinking tumors to a size small enough for surgical or radiological therapy.

Systemic treatments for breast cancer include the following:

Chemotherapy. Chemotherapy employs drugs given orally or by injection that kill cancer cells throughout the body. It plays a role in a very wide range of breast cancer cases. Chemotherapy is appropriate for most women up to age 70, regardless of menopausal status or whether the tumor is node-negative or positive or hormone-receptor positive or negative.

Hormone therapy. The goal of hormone therapy is to prevent estrogen from stimulating breast cancer cells. It is now recommended for women of any age whose breast cancers are hormone-receptor positive (either estrogen or progesterone), regardless of the size of the tumor and whether or not it has spread to the lymph nodes.

Side effects of radiation include the following:

Fatigue is very common and increases with subsequent treatments, but most women are able to continue with normal activities. Other side effects of radiation also tend to grow more severe as treatment progresses; they include nausea,

lack of appetite, and burns on the breast skin.

After repeated sessions, the skin may become moist and "weepy." Exposing the treated skin to air as much aspossible helps healing. The effects are usually temporary, although in some cases the breast may change color, size, or become permanently firm.

Rarely, the nearest arm may swell and develop impaired mobility.

Last updated Jan 4/07