Treatments for breast include:
- surgery
- chemotherapy
- radiotherapy
- hormonal therapy
- monoclonal antibody treatment.
You may need only one of these treatments or a combination of them.
What treatment or treatments are best depends on:
- the size of the tumour
- its position in the breast
- whether it has spread beyond the breast to nearby lymph nodes
- whether it contains oestrogen receptors (ER+)
- whether it contains a high number of HER2 receptors (HER2+)
Surgery is usually the most important part of treatment. Sometimes a choice of different types of operation is possible. In early breast cancer a simple operation to remove the lump, followed by radiotherapy is often as effective as removing all of the breast.
When two types of treatment offer the same chance of curing the cancer but have different side effects, doctors will often give people information about the benefits and advantages of both treatments so that they can choose which treatment is best for them.