Breast cancer treatment

Treatment for early or locally advanced breast cancer varies from person to person. The most suitable treatment for you will depend on your test results, where the cancer is in the breast, the cancer’s stage and grade, and whether the cancer is hormone receptor and/or HER2 positive or triple negative. Your doctor will also consider your age and general health, and what you want.

Research shows that exercising before, during and after treatment
can help people diagnosed with breast cancer.

Learn more about:

• Treatment options by type of breast cancer
• Surgery
• Radiation therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Hormone therapy (only for ER+ and/or PR+ cancers)
• Targeted therapy (only for HER2+ cancers)

Treatment options by type of breast cancer

Usually more than one treatment is used, and treatments may be given in different orders and combinations.

Early breast cancer

The main options are either breast-conserving surgery and radiation therapy or a mastectomy . Often surgery is followed by a combination of chemotherapy, hormone therapy or targeted therapy depending on the features of the cancer. This is known as adjuvant therapy and it reduces the risk of the cancer coming back.

Locally advanced breast cancer

Often treated with chemotherapy before surgery. This is known as neoadjuvant chemotherapy. If the cancer is HER positive, you’ll also have targeted therapy. It’s common to be offered a mastectomy. If you have responded well to chemotherapy and the cancer has shrunk, you may be offered breast-conserving surgery. Surgery may be followed by radiation therapy, hormone therapy and/or targeted therapy depending on the features of the cancer.