 Overview
Coping
Other than skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in the United States. More than 180,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year.
Studies show that the risk of breast cancer increases as a woman gets older. Most breast cancers occur in women over the age of 50, and the risk is especially high for those over age 60. Also, breast cancer occurs more often in white women than African American or Asian women.
Research has shown that the following conditions increase a woman's chances of getting the disease:
- Personal history of breast cancer. Women who have had breast cancer in one breast before, face an increased risk of getting breast cancer in their other breast.
- Family history. A woman's risk for developing breast cancer increases if her mother, sister, or daughter had it, especially at a young age.
- Certain breast changes. Having a diagnosis of atypical hyperplasia or lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) may increase a woman's risk for developing cancer.
- Genetic alterations. Changes in certain genes increase the risk of breast cancer. In families in which many women have had the disease, gene testing can sometimes show the presence of specific genetic changes that increase the risk. Doctors may suggest ways to try to delay or prevent breast cancer, or to improve the detection of this disease in women who have these changes in their genes.
Other factors associated with an increased risk for breast cancer include:
- Extended estrogen use
- Late childbearing
- Breast density
- Radiation therapy before the age of 30
Surgery is the most common treatment for breast cancer, and there are several types.
- An operation to remove the cancer but not the breast is called breast-sparing surgery or breast-conserving surgery. Lumpectomy and segmental mastectomy (also called partial mastectomy) are types of breast-sparing surgery. After breast-sparing surgery, most women receive radiation therapy to destroy cancer cells that remain in the area.
- An operation to remove the breast (or as much of the breast as possible) is a mastectomy. Breast reconstruction is often an option at the same time as the mastectomy, or later on.
- In most cases, the surgeon also removes lymph nodes under the arm to help determine whether cancer cells have entered the lymphatic system. This is called an axillary lymph node dissection.
Radiation therapy is the use of high-energy rays to kill cancer cells. The radiation may be directed at the breast by a machine (external radiation). The radiation can also come from radioactive material placed in thin plastic tubes that are placed directly in the breast (implant radiation). Some women have both kinds of radiation therapy.
For external radiation therapy, the patient goes to the hospital or clinic, generally 5 days a week for several weeks. For implant radiation, a patient stays in the hospital. The implants remain in place for several days. They are removed before the woman goes home.
Sometimes, depending on the size of the tumor and other factors, radiation therapy is used after surgery, especially after breast-sparing surgery. The radiation destroys any breast cancer cells that may remain in the area.
Before surgery, radiation therapy, alone or with chemotherapy or hormonal therapy, is sometimes used to destroy cancer cells and shrink tumors. This approach is most often used in cases in which the breast tumor is large or not easily removed by surgery.
For information about side effects, see What you should know about radiation to the chest.
Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy for breast cancer is usually a combination of drugs. The drugs may be given in a pill or by injection. Either way, the drugs enter the bloodstream and travel throughout the body.
Most patients have chemotherapy in an outpatient part of the hospital, at the doctor's office, or at home. Depending on which drugs are given and her general health, however, a woman may need to stay in the hospital during her treatment.
Hormonal therapy keeps cancer cells from getting the hormones they need to grow. This treatment may include the use of drugs that change the way hormones work, or surgery to remove the ovaries, which make female hormones. Like chemotherapy, hormonal therapy can affect cancer cells throughout the body.
Biological therapy is a treatment designed to enhance the body's natural defenses against cancer.
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Chemotherapy and You
Information about what to expect during chemotherapy and what patients can do to take care of themselves during and after treatment.
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Radiation Therapy and You
Information about what to expect during radiation therapy, including the general effects of treatment and how to deal with specific side effects.
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