Chemotherapy for breast cancer uses drugs to target and destroy breast cancer cells. Stage 2 usually means that the tumour is larger than in stage 1, but the cancer has not started to spread into the surrounding tissues. You might have chemotherapy as a treatment on its own, without surgery. Chemotherapy is an invasive treatment that can have severe adverse effects both during the therapy and for some time after.
If you have stage 3A breast cancer and you plan to have breast-conserving surgery, you may be offered chemotherapy before surgery (called neoadjuvant chemotherapy). Find out what defines the different stages of breast cancer and how they are treated. A doctor can use various systems to determine what stage a cancer has reached. For cancer that has spread. It used to be that the only kind of drug that could treat cancer was traditional or standard chemo, but now there are a lot of different kinds of drugs used to treat cancer. Chemotherapy is used to treat: early-stage invasive breast cancer to get rid of any cancer cells that may be left behind after surgery and to reduce the risk of the cancer coming back; advanced-stage breast cancer to destroy or damage the cancer cells as much as possible; In some cases, chemotherapy is given before surgery to shrink the cancer. You can take the drugs by mouth or have them injected into your bloodstream. Sometimes stage 2 means that cancer … Doctors use chemotherapy because it circulates throughout the body in the bloodstream. Doctors usually offer chemotherapy to treat early stage (stages 1A, 1B and 2A) breast cancer with a high risk of recurrence or locally advanced (stages 2B, 3A, 3B and 3C) breast cancer. Chemotherapy. It works by interfering with the cancer cells’ ability to divide and grow. It's important to know that not all medicines and drugs to treat cancer work the same way. How Chemotherapy Is Given. So it can treat cancer almost anywhere in the body. Chemotherapy for breast cancer frequently is used in addition to other treatments, such as surgery, radiation or hormone therapy. Clinical trials are open to many women with stage II breast cancer . A clinical trial may allow you access to cutting-edge treatments. But to most people, the word chemotherapy (or "chemo") means drugs used for cancer treatment. Chemotherapy is usually given after surgery if you did not have it before surgery. Chemotherapy for advanced-stage/metastatic disease. Here is a brief summary of what the stages mean for most types of cancer: Stage 1 usually means that a cancer is relatively small and contained within the organ it started in.
It’s often used in combination with chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is a treatment that uses anti-cancer drugs to destroy cancer cells. Chemotherapy for these stages of breast cancer is generally given as a combination of several drugs because research shows that giving them together is more effective than giving each drug alone. Your doctor might suggest chemotherapy if there is a chance that your cancer might spread in the future. For blood cancer. These drugs are usually given directly into a vein through a needle or as a pill. This is because the drugs often target both cancer cells and healthy cells. An early-stage cancer may call for surgery while an advanced-stage cancer may need chemotherapy. Chemotherapy uses drugs to shrink or kill prostate cancer cells.
Or if it has already spread. While traditional or standard chemotherapy is still the … The chemotherapy comes in pills, capsules, or liquids that you swallow. Intravenous (IV) The chemotherapy goes directly into a vein. Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment. Learn about surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormone treatments, and targeted drugs. Different chemotherapy drugs work in different ways and a combination of drugs is often used. Chemotherapy treatments are tailored specifically for each person's unique situation. Chemotherapy is used to treat all stages of breast cancer, including cancer that has come back in the breast area and breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body (metastatic disease). Injection. Taxol (chemical name: paclitaxel) Abraxane (chemical name: albumin-bound or nab-paclitaxel) Taxotere (chemical name: docetaxel) Adriamycin (chemical name: doxorubicin) Ellence (chemical name: epirubicin) Halaven (chemical name: erubilin) An example of this is having chemotherapy after surgery. Outlook: Your recovery will depend in part on how early the cancer is found. Oral. This is for types of cancer that are very sensitive to chemotherapy, such as blood cancer.