Chemotherapy

When the growth of cancer cells is large enough to be detected, it means your immune system is having difficulty fighting the cancer and needs additional help. Help in killing cancer cells comes from two other forms of therapy: chemotherapy and hormone therapy.

These therapies are used to prevent cancer from returning in women who are at high risk for spread of the disease to other organs of the body and to control the disease when it is found in other areas of the body.

Most often, chemotherapy drugs are injected into the bloodstream through an intravenous needle (IV). Some are given as pills. Treatments can be as short as four months or as long as two years. The kind of chemotherapy drugs a patient is prescribed will depend on the information gathered at diagnosis: where the tumor is located, including its size and type.

Learn more about chemotherapy by clicking on these links.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/breast/Patient/page5#Keypoint20py

Learn more about treatment options:

Radiation Therapy

Surgery

Other Treatment Methods

Clinical Trials