Breast Cancer
Questions and Answers

Q: What should you do when the diagnosis is breast cancer?

A: Ask your primary care doctor to recommend a physician who specializes in breast cancer treatment, such as a surgeon, radiation oncologist or medical oncologist, with whom you can talk. You may want to take a few days first to get over the shock.

After discussions with your doctor, it's ok to delay making a decision on treatment for a couple of weeks so you can carefully consider your choices. such brief delays do not decrease survival rates.

Q: What treatment options should you consider?

A: A range of options is available for treating breast cancer. Treatment should be tailored to each individual patient, so it's important to ask your doctor to discuss the options, the benefits and potential problems with each. You might want to get a second opinion.

Treatment options depend on the size of the tumor, location, type of cancer, and stage of the disease. Your age and overall health also are relevant.

Early detection affords the most treatment options. Treatments include surgery and radiation therapy as types of local treatment and chemotherapy and hormonal therapy for systemic treatment.

Q: What are the benefits of each option?

A: today's treatments, combined with early detection of breast cancer, offer many women a chance for cure.

For decades, the only response to breast cancer was breast removal, a surgical procedure called a mastectomy. Many women still have mastectomies today. some of these women choose to have a breast reconstructed to replace the one that is removed.

Recently, scientific studies have confirmed that at least half of the women who are diagnosed with breast cancer could be treated just as effectively with lumpectomy and radiation therapy. this treatment allows a woman to keep her breast.

Some women may undergo hormonal therapy or chemotherapy. These types of treatment can help destroy any cancer that has or might have spread.

You should talk to our doctor about the benefits, side effects, and expected outcomes of various treatments before deciding on the treatment that is best for you.

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