Breast cancer treatment Details
A diagnosis of breast cancer can be a devastating bit of news to anyone. However, recent developments in treatments and medical advances that combat breast cancer offer today's women more choices, less discomfort and improved prognosis. Today, more women than ever before are enjoying the benefits of surviving breast cancer, and education, early detection, and information is continually improving and lengthening quality of life, chances for remission and eradication of breast cancer for women around the world.
Common Breast Cancer Treatments
The most popular, and effective, breast cancer treatments used today utilize, individually or in combination:
- Chemotherapy/Radiation therapy
- Hormonal therapy
- Surgical procedures
Women treated for cancer may also utilize the benefits of holistic and complementary medical techniques that involve acupuncture, meditation, and yoga to help alleviate and eradicate side effects caused by treatments, maintain positive attitudes, and help ensure overall improvement in quality of health and life issues.
The most common types of hormonal therapy used today include three therapies:
- Avastin - a very effective medication that blocks the growth and development of new blood vessels upon which cancer cells depend on to grow and thrive.
- Tykerb - this drug works against several types of breast cancers by blocking routines that contribute to uncontrolled cell growth.
- Herceptin - a very common drug that blocks the ability of cancer cells in many breast cancers to receive chemical signals that instruct them to grow.
Targeted hormonal cancer therapies focus on specific cancer cell characteristics such as proteins that encourage or enable cancer cells to proliferate. Such therapies cause less damage to overall cellular structures than chemotherapy and enhance production of antibodies produced by the immune system. (Hormonal cancer therapies are not the same as hormone replacement therapy often prescribed for women during menopause).
Chemotherapy is an approach to cancer treatment that involves systemic blood flow, which means that drugs and medications flow through and affect the entire body via the bloodstream. Chemotherapy treatments are designed to kill cancer cells that have spread from a point of origin to other locations in the body.
Chemotherapy is designed to interfere with rapid cell division, but also affects healthy cells within the body. However, chemotherapy has improved in recent years and is no longer the same as the chemotherapy that your mother or grandmother may have had to endure. Today, vital organs such as the liver and kidneys are rarely affected by chemotherapy treatments, and the development of drugs and medications have also been used to help reduce side effects of chemotherapy including nausea, weight loss, and compromised immune systems.
Radiation is also known as radiotherapy and is an extremely effective and efficient method of destroying cancer cells in the breast that may remain after surgical procedures.� These days, radiation therapy does not carry extreme side effects, and those that do exhibit such effects are limited to treated areas that are also relatively easy for patients to tolerate.
Two types of radiation are commonly utilized: external and internal radiation. External radiation is the more common, and typically is suggested following lumpectomy.
Surgery
Common surgical procedures that combat breast cancer may include lumpectomy, mastectomies, and lymph node dissection. Your doctor will discuss potential surgical possibilities with you depending on your case, and its severity.
Benefits of Breast Cancer Treatments
Breast cancer treatments are suggested and encouraged for any individual who has received a diagnosis of breast cancer. When caught early enough, today's therapies and treatments have grown increasingly successful in eradicating cancer cell growth and development, by as much as 70%.
Cost of Breast Cancer Treatments and Therapies
Costs of biological hormone therapy treatments vary according to drug as well as the stage of cancer being treated. In the United States, price ranges for Avastin may cost up to $4,400 a month, while Herceptin costs an average of $3,000 a month.
However, medical travelers to other countries such as India may save substantial amounts of money on biological hormone therapy drugs. For example, in India, a year's supply of Herceptin averages out to about $2,000 a month instead of the $3,000 a month in the U.S. In other locations such as Thailand and Singapore, medical travelers are also able to enjoy substantial savings.
Chemotherapy costs in the U.S. average about $500 per treatment, while comparative treatments in foreign destinations are much lower. A breast lump removal (lumpectomy) in the U.S. can cost an average of $2,500-$3,000, while such procedures can cost about $700 in India and about $1,000 in Singapore.
Who Performs Breast Cancer Treatments?
Patients diagnosed with breast cancer should look for cancer specialists, trained in the field of oncology. Look for experience, training, and that the specialist of their choice has been board-certified in specific areas of medicine. Board-certified physicians and surgeons in the field of medical oncology or surgery will ensure such qualifications. |
