Medication treatment of breast cancer is done with one or more of the following chemotherapy, hormonotherapy, target therapy and immunotherapy treatments.
In general, chemotherapy is the administration of drugs that kill cancer cells intravenously or in pill form. This form of treatment is not only used for advanced stages, but can sometimes be used in the early stages depending on the characteristics of the tumor. Cancer cells can sometimes break away from the tumor and settle in various parts of the body through blood or lymph. This condition does not cause any symptoms, is not detected by radiological imaging, and is not noticed during examination. However, if these cells continue to grow, they may cause metastasis.
By chemotherapy, these cells that disperse throughout the body are destroyed, preventing metastases that may develop in the future. Side effects occur because these drugs kill some normal cells along with cancerous cells. However, this treatment is very important to prevent a recurrence or metastasis that may develop in the future.
Chemotherapy is used as the main treatment in patients whose cancer has spread beyond the breast and armpit area. In some locally advanced cases, that is, cases with armpit or breast skin involvement, chemotherapy may also be administered before surgery. This procedure, called neoadjuvant treatment, aims to protect the armpit by destroying the cancerous lymph nodes in the armpit. In addition, breast-conserving surgery is made possible by shrinking the tumor in the breast. Chemotherapy is usually administered in cycles, with a break after each treatment period. The total duration of treatment usually lasts between 3 and 6 months. Instead of using a single drug, combination therapy is often used in which several drugs are used together. How and for how long chemotherapy will be given and which drugs will be used are determined by medical oncology.
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