A diagnosis of breast cancer causes a woman to wonder whether she'll be healthy in the future and whether she'll be able to keep her breasts. Doctors treat stage I breast cancer with a combination of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and hormone inhibition therapy. Sometimes, preservation of the breast is possible, and many women diagnosed with stage I breast cancer go on to live healthy lives after treatment.
Stage I Breast Cancer
Doctors diagnose breast cancer after performing a series of exams, imaging scans or tests, or after using a combination of all of those tools. A diagnosis of stage I breast cancer indicates that the tumor itself is smaller than 2 cm across and that the cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes. In stage I breast cancer, the cancer has not spread (metastasized) to other organs, such as the lungs.
A doctor will recommend whether to remove your stage I breast cancer with a lumpectomy or partial mastectomy surgery, which removes the tumor and some surrounding tissue but preserves the breast, or with a radical mastectomy, which removes the entire breast. If the cancer is removed without removing the entire breast, doctors normally recommend radiation therapy afterward to help prevent the cancer from coming back.
If the tumor measures less than 1 cm across, a doctor may not recommend chemotherapy. Doctors test genes to find out more about a patient's risk of breast cancer recurrence, and use the results of those tests when recommending whether a patient should have chemotherapy after breast surgery for stage I breast cancer. Chemotherapy after breast surgery reduces, but does not eliminate, the chance of the cancer coming back.
The hormones estrogen and progesterone contribute to the growth of many breast cancer tumors. If a doctor finds that your tumors are the type that respond to estrogen or progesterone, he will likely prescribe medications that block the effects of these hormones in the body, regardless of how large the tumor is. Sometimes these drugs cause menopause in pre-menopausal women. Your doctor can test you after treatment to see if your body still produces hormones, even if your periods have not returned.
If you are pregnant when diagnosed with stage I breast cancer, a doctor will likely recommend a radical mastectomy unless you can safely wait to have radiation therapy until after you have the baby. Radiation therapy causes birth defects, but breast surgery is safe for both the mother and the baby. Doctors have the option of using some chemotherapy drugs during the second and third trimesters of a pregnancy. Do not breast-feed while undergoing radiation therapy or chemotherapy.
Stage I breast cancer has a very high five-year relative survival rate, underscoring the need for early screening and diagnosis.
Tags: breast cancer, stage breast cancer, breast cancer, breast surgery, radiation therapy, stage breast, after breast
