We may not have a choice about getting breast cancer, but we have no dearth of choices when it comes to how we can treat it. There are a wide variety of treatment options for us to consider, including:

• Standard treatments
• Clinical trials
• Complementary therapies
• Treatments in other countries

Standard treatments

Surgery
Most of us will require surgery to remove the cancer from the affected breast. As part of that surgery, regardless of how it's done, some of the lymph nodes under the arm will be taken out and looked at under a microscope to see if they contain cancer cells, a sign that the cancer may have spread, or metastasized.There are several forms of breast-conserving surgery, which remove the cancer, but not the breast itself:

• Lumpectomy: In a lumpectomy only the tumor is removed, along with a small amount of seemingly normal tissue around it.

• Partial mastectomy: In a partial mastectomy the part of the breast that contains cancer and some normal tissue around it are removed. This procedure is also called a segmental mastectomy.

• Total mastectomy: A total mastectomy removes the entire breast. This procedure is also called a simple mastectomy.

• Modified radical mastectomy: A modified radical mastectomy removes the entire breast, many of the lymph nodes under the arm, the lining over the chest muscles and, sometimes, part of the chest wall's muscles.

• Radical mastectomy: A radical mastectomy removes the breast that contains the cancer, the chest wall muscles under that breast, and all of the lymph nodes under that arm.

Adjuvant therapies
After surgery, many of us will be asked to consider adjuvant therapy, which is a treatment given alongside another to boost the chances of a cure. There are several forms of adjuvant therapy for breast cancer, such as:

• Radiation: Involve either external radiation or internal radiation

• Chemotherapy agents: Include drugs like docetaxel, capecitabine, cyclophosphamide, and doxorubicin

• Hormone therapy agents: Includes taxol, which block estrogen or progesterone receptors to slow tumor growth

• Biological therapy agents: Includes herceptin, which assists your immune system in fighting off your cancer.

Experimental treatments
Many of us will at least consider taking part in a clinical trial as part of our cancer treatment. This is an extremely personal decision, since clinical trials carry both a great deal of potential and a great deal of risk. One thing is for certain: If we do decide to enroll in a clinical trial, we need to make sure we've done our homework first.

Experimental treatments should never be undertaken without a great deal of research.The same can be said for certain alternative treatments, most of which have not been scientifically tested or approved for the treatment of cancer.

Still, many of us have tried alternative treatments as an adjunct to other, more conventional treatments, and have had some measure of success.

See also

• Breast cancer - introduction
• Breast cancer - prevalence
• Breast cancer - prevention
• Breast cancer - causes and risk factors
• Breast cancer - detection and diagnosis
• Breast cancer - dealing with the aftermath
• Breast cancer - prognosis
• Building a support network