health

The first step in treating any kind of cancer is staging. Staging is a
description of the location of the cancer, its size, how far it has penetrated
into healthy tissue, and whether it has spread to other parts of the body.
Breast cancer is classified into five stages:

• Stage 0: The cancer is in a lobule or a duct but has not spread
  beyond it. Breast cancer in this stage is called carcinoma in situ.
  This type of breast cancer is considered noninvasive.
• Stage I: The cancer is no more than three-quarters of an inch
  across and has not spread beyond the breast.
• Stage II. The cancer is between three-quarters and two inches
  across and may have spread to the lymph nodes under the arm.
• Stage III. The cancer has grown into the chest wall or the skin of
  the breast, is larger than two inches across, and has spread to
  lymph nodes behind the breastbone and under the arm.
• Stage IV. The cancer has spread to other parts of the body.

Surgery is usually the first line of treatment for breast cancer. Complete
removal of the breast and underlying chest muscle, called a radical
mastectomy, while more common in the past, is now rarely performed.
Surgeons are more likely to recommend one type or another of breastsparing
surgery:

• Lumpectomy. In this type of surgery, the surgeon removes the
  cancer itself and a small amount of tissue around it.
• Partial mastectomy. The surgeon removes the cancer, the breast
  tissue surrounding it, and some of the underlying muscle.
• Simple mastectomy. The surgeon removes the entire breast.
• Modified radical mastectomy. The surgeon removes the entire
  breast and nearby lymph nodes but leaves the chest muscles
  in place.
• Reconstruction. Many women have plastic surgery at the same
  time as a mastectomy or as a later operation to restore the shape
  of the original breast. The surgeon may use an artificial implant
  or the patient’s own tissue to reconstruct the breast.

Other treatments for breast cancer that may be used after surgery
include:

• Radiation therapy. The radiation may come from a large machine
  outside the body or from implanted plastic tubes containing a
  radioactive substance. The tubes remain in place for several days
  and are removed before the patient leaves the hospital.
• Chemotherapy.
• Hormone therapy. This approach to treatment involves taking
  drugs by mouth to block the production of estrogen and other
  female hormones. Estrogen encourages the growth of some breast
  cancers, and hormone blockers are effective in slowing these
  tumors in some patients.
• Biological therapy. Also called targeted therapy, this approach stimulates
  the body’s immune system to fight cancer cells rather than
  attacking them directly. It can also be used to control side effects
  from chemotherapy and radiation therapy, which often include
  nausea, vomiting, hair loss, and fatigue.