Breast Cancer Treatment

There are four main types of breast cancer treatment. Which ones you have will depend on your individual circumstances. Your doctor will discuss your breast cancer treatment fully with you.

Radiotherapy  |  Hormonal Manipulation  |  Chemotherapy  |  Herceptin

Radiotherapy

Women are often advised to have radiotherapy after surgery for breast cancer. This breast cancer treatment uses radiation to lower the risk of the breast cancer coming back. Radiotherapy is routine after a partial mastectomy, and you may also be advised to have it after a mastectomy.

You will have treatment every week day for four to five weeks, but it will only take a few minutes each time.

Hormonal Manipulation (Breast Cancer Hormone Treatment)

The female hormones oestrogen and progesterone can encourage some kinds of breast cancer cells to grow. Breast cancer hormone treatment blocks the effects of these hormones.

The most common breast cancer hormone treatment drugs in New Zealand are tamoxifen and a group of drugs called aromatase inhibitors (e.g. anastrozole and letrozole). Aromatase inhibitors can only be used after menopause. You doctor will discuss which is best for you.

Breast cancer hormone treatment will not only reduce the chance of the cancer coming back, but also lessen the chance of a cancer in your other breast.

Breast Cancer Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses drugs that kill cancer cells. Usually breast cancer chemotherapy is given after surgery to reduce the chance of the cancer spreading or coming back. Sometimes breast cancer chemotherapy is given before surgery to shrink a large tumour, and it can also be given for breast cancer that has come back.

Most breast cancer chemotherapy is given directly into a vein. It can be a combination of drugs or a single drug. You will usually receive it as an outpatient, with several weeks between each treatment. It may take up to six months.

Doctors may advise you to have chemotherapy if the lymph nodes removed at surgery contained cancer cells, if you had a large breast cancer, if your breast cancer was fast growing, or if your breast cancer is one that will not respond to breast cancer hormone treatment.

Herceptin

Herceptin is a biological cancer treatment that blocks a particular growth factor, stopping cancer cells from growing. It also increases the effect of breast cancer chemotherapy.

However, Herceptin is useful for only 20-25 per cent of breast cancers – those that test positive for the HER-2 growth factor.

For women with such a cancer, Herceptin is given into a vein every three weeks, usually for 12 months. It may be given for longer if the breast cancer has spread.