| Other
Treatments for Breast Cancer There are several other
different types of treatment for breast cancer, for which we will provide a brief
overview. These include:
- hormone therapy
Hormone therapy is used to prevent the growth, spread, and
recurrence of breast cancer. The female hormone estrogen can increase the growth of
breast cancer cells in some women. A drug, such as tamoxifen, blocks the effects of
estrogen on the growth of malignant cells in breast tissue. However, tamoxifen does not
stop the production of estrogen. Hormone therapy may be considered for women whose breast
cancers test positive for estrogen or progesterone receptors.
Oophorectory, surgery to remove the ovaries in women who have not gone
through menopause, is a means of stopping the production of estrogen.
- adjuvant therapy
Adjuvant therapy is therapy given after primary therapy -- usually surgery
to remove the cancer -- to reduce the chance of the cancer spreading or
recurring. The adjuvant therapy may be radiation, chemotherapy, or hormone therapy.
- biological therapy
Biological therapy uses the body's own materials, or those made in a laboratory, to assist
the body in fighting the cancer. It may also be called biological response modifier
therapy, or immunotherapy.
Biological therapy treatments are designed to repair, stimulate, or increase the body's
natural ability to fight cancer.
- bone marrow transplant / autologous stem cell therapy
High doses of chemotherapy or radiation are sometimes used to kill cancer cells, also
killing healthy blood-forming stem cells. To combat this, stem cells taken earlier from
the patient's bone marrow, or separated from the blood, are later returned to the patient
to help restore the body's ability to fight infection.
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