Breast cancers that have been detected at an early stage can be effectively treated with surgery. Surgery to treat breast cancer, together with radiation therapy, is clubbed under local therapy, a therapy that treats the cancer without affecting any other part of the body. Surgical methods include breast-conserving (mastectomy), sentinel lymph node biopsy or axillary lymph node dissection and breast reconstruction surgeries as well as procedures to relieve symptoms of advanced cancer
Breast cancers can also be treated through high-energy rays or particles to destroy cancer cells. Radiation is also used after surgery to prevent any chance of recurrence and to treat cancers that have spread to other areas like the brain or the bones. It can be administered internally (brachytherapy) and externally (external beam radiation)
Breast cancers in advanced stages require chemotherapy or the introduction of cancer-killing drugs into the bloodstream either orally or through a vein (intravenously). Chemotherapy may be used after surgery (adjuvant therapy) to prevent spread of cancer cells. In certain cases when chemotherapy is used pre-surgery, it is known as neoadjuvant therapy. Some other systemic therapies to treat breast cancer apart from chemotherapy (so called as they can reach cancer cells developing anywhere in the body) are hormone therapy, targeted therapy and bone-directed therapy
