Renewed Hope For Breast Cancer Cure

When a person suddenly feels a lump on their left/right breast, it was really a nightmare. This happened in a flash and it could hardly be accepted. They cried helplessly as they felt the uncertainty of their future.

What if a pathology report confirmed that the cancerous cells had spread to their lymph nodes? At that moment, their life turned into darkness and they can immediately feel their world was coming apart and their days may be spiraling to death. Their attitude towards life seemed hopeless and useless!

In a reality, breast cancer is not thought of as a deadly disease if it’s detected earlier. The oncologist will recommend the best option of treatments for a positive outcome. Up until that point, breast cancer patients still stand for a better chance of surviving breast cancer. In a nutshell, there is most always life after breast cancer!

What is Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer is the second primary cause of death among women between 45 to 55 years old in the United States even though there are also 1% of males being reported for breast cancer deaths.

Breast cancer is a form of tissue of the breast always occurs in the ducts (tubes that transport milk to the nipple) and lobules (glands that produce milk) and it can be varied in its various types, ranging from localized cancers (such as ductal carcinoma in situ or DCIS) to those that can spread rapidly called invasive cancers or metastasize (any cells that break away from the primary tumor and then spread to other parts of the body).

Can Breast Cancer be Cure?

Early detection of breast cancer is particularly important for a successful treatment. When cancerous cells are detected earlier, breast cancer can always be kept at bay. Furthermore, treatment in cancer has been advanced significantly and many options are available to give better hope as well as a better long-term chance of surviving breast cancer.

When adjuvant therapy is combined with surgery, patients can have a better hope and stand a chance of being free from disease on a long-term basis, and this will increase their chance of surviving breast cancer.

How Would Adjuvant Chemotherapy Help Breast Cancer Patients?

When a patient went through a treatment called TAC regime, they can still be free of disease even though they were first diagnosed with cancer a few years ago. The treatment options have been proven scientifically to give them a better chance of gaining long-term survival rate as compared with those who did not go through the treatment. Additionally, this treatment helps to prevent a possible cancer reoccurrence.

In a treatment during the early stages of breast cancer, that is when cancerous cells have spread to lymph nodes, TAC regime has increased the chance of remaining disease free for 5 years and more in comparison to another treatment alternative known as FAC (or CAF, representing three- drug regimen: Fluorouracil [5-FU], Cytoxan® [cyclophosphamid] and Adriamycin® [doxorubicin]) which may cause many side effects.

Note: FAC has been a standard chemotherapy treatment for both early and metastatic breast cancer by suppressing the replication of the DNA of the cancerous cells while destroying fast-growing cancerous cells. FAC like other chemotherapy treatments has been known to cause side effects of bruising, skin sensitivity, fatigue, eye sensitivity, red blood cells damage, bleeding, infection, gastrointestinal upset and memory loss.

Since there are many options available to cater to different type of cancer patients, it’s always advisable for patients to discuss the best treatment options with their oncologist to appropriately determine which type of chemotherapy treatment suits them best.

Why Adjuvant Chemotherapy Instead?

Chemotherapy treatment called adjuvant chemotherapy is performed during an early stage of breast cancer after surgery or primary therapy (such as a surgery to help remove a small amount of normal tissue or tumor around the breast called lumpectomy, removal of the breast called mastectomy) in order to kill off any possible remnants (microscopic) of cancerous cells that might still be present as they’re not being able to be detected by the available imaging technologies or laboratory tests, or after the known tumor was removed via a surgery procedure. This treatment plan helps reduce the risk of cancer relapsing and increase the patients odds of surviving breast cancer.

Basically, there are a variety of adjuvant treatment regimes available for a treatment of early stage of breast cancer. For example, TAC regime is one example which includes Docetaxel (T) as one of its components. Docetaxel which acts as an established and effective chemotherapy agent is always used to treat both early and late stage of breast cancer. In this particular treatment, two other chemotherapy agents, Cyclophosphamide (C) and Doxorubicin (A) are commonly given as a combination with Docetaxel and these three drug combination are given for a total of six times once every three weeks.

While on treatment, patients are treated as an outpatient and they do not have to be hospitalized. The chemotherapy is given either by injection into a blood vessel or is given orally and it’s given in cycles. The treatment usually does not exceed more than 6 months. Normally, patients with potential risk of cancer reoccurrence are advised to undergo adjuvant chemotherapy.

What are the Side Effects of Adjuvant Chemotherapy?

Like many other available chemotherapy treatments, Adjuvant Chemotherapy treatment can cause side effects. The patient may experience these in varying degree depending on the individuals, the drug a patient receives and also the type of treatment they have chosen. Nevertheless, these side effects are mostly temporary as they will be subsided once the treatment is completed.

In a TAC regime, one would experience diarrhea, nausea, mouth sores, vomiting, loss of appetite, changes in both of their skin and nails as well as hair loss. The patients are also prone to infection and can be immune-compromised during the time span the treatment is given. It’s important to highlight that they should seek advice from their oncologist to recommend the type of chemotherapy treatment that suits them best and discuss with the oncologist on how to better cope with the side effects while on treatment.

Even though chemotherapy treatment involves side effects, there is truly a life after breast cancer which can help the patient to live with more confidence. Moreover, the long-term benefits of this treatment outweigh its temporary side effects, so why not grab this opportunity to stand a chance of surviving breast cancer for 5 years or more?

Indeed, there really is a life after breast cancer!

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Take care, stay well and stay healthy!