What is the treatment for breast cancer?

Breast cancer is a very common cancer among women, and is one of the two major diseases that endanger women's health, along with uterine cancer. Breasts are one of the most important female characteristics of women, and they are also very easy to be hurt. For example, improper sleeping habits, wearing inappropriate underwear that compresses the breasts, smoking and drinking, etc., may cause damage to the breasts. Therefore, women are prone to breast hyperplasia, mastitis, etc. If not treated in time, it may induce breast cancer. So how should breast cancer be treated?

Surgery remains one of the main treatments for breast cancer. There are many surgical procedures, and there is no consensus on their selection. The general trend is to minimize surgical damage and, if equipment conditions permit, try to preserve the breast shape for patients with early breast cancer. Regardless of the surgical procedure chosen, the principle of radical cure as the main approach and preservation of function and appearance as the secondary approach must be strictly adhered to.

(I) Indications for surgery Halsted first invented radical mastectomy for breast cancer. Because the operation is reasonable and has clear efficacy, it has become the standard method for treating breast cancer in the past century.

(II) Contraindications to surgery

1. Systemic contraindications: ① Patients with distant tumor metastasis. ② Elderly and frail patients who cannot tolerate surgery. ③ Those with poor general condition and cachexia. ④ Patients with major organ dysfunction who cannot tolerate surgery.

2. Contraindications for local lesions: Patients at stage III who have any of the following conditions: ① orange peel-like edema of the breast skin exceeding half of the breast area; ② satellite nodules appear on the breast skin; ③ breast cancer invades the chest wall; ④ clinical examination shows enlarged parasternal lymph nodes confirmed to be metastatic; ⑤ edema of the affected upper limb

(III) Surgical method

1. Radical mastectomy: In 1894, Halsted and Meger published the surgical principles of radical mastectomy: ① The primary lesion and regional lymph nodes should be removed in one piece; ② The entire breast and pectoralis major and minor muscles should be removed; ③ The axillary lymph nodes should be completely removed in one piece. Haagensen improved radical surgery for breast cancer, emphasizing that the surgical procedure should be particularly thorough.

2. Extended radical mastectomy for breast cancer: Extended radical mastectomy for breast cancer includes radical mastectomy and internal mammary lymph node dissection, that is, removal of 1-4 intercostal lymph nodes. At this time, the second, third and fourth costal cartilages need to be removed. There are two surgical methods: intrapleural and extrapleural. The former is more traumatic and has more complications, so the latter is more commonly used.

The above article introduces some methods for treating breast cancer. If breast cancer is still in the early stages when it is detected, chemotherapy and surgery can be used to fight cancer cells. However, if the cancer cells have spread in the late stages, there is no way to treat breast cancer. Therefore, early detection of breast problems and early treatment are the most important aspects of breast cancer.