Breast cancer treatment typically involves surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, targeted therapy (smart drugs), and immunotherapy. Surgery may be breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy), removing the cancer and some surrounding tissue, or a mastectomy, removing all or part of the breast. Chemotherapy may be given before surgery to shrink the tumor, making surgery less extensive.

Following surgery, to kill any remaining cancer cells and reduce the risk of recurrence (adjuvant therapy), radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, or hormone therapy may be used.

Breast cancer treatment options include:

**Breast Cancer Surgery:** This removes cancerous cells and surrounding tissue in the breast. Types of surgery include:

* Lumpectomy
* Mastectomy
* Sentinel node biopsy
* Axillary lymph node dissection
* Modified radical mastectomy
* Radical mastectomy

**Other Treatment Options:** In addition to surgery, treatment may include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormone therapy, immunotherapy, and targeted drug therapy.

**Chemotherapy:** This uses drugs, injected or taken orally, to stop cancer cells from growing and dividing. The drugs enter the bloodstream to reach and kill cancer cells.

**Radiation Therapy:** This uses X-rays or other types of radiation to kill cancer cells or stop their growth. This can be delivered externally or internally using radioactive materials placed near or within the cancer.

**Targeted Drug Therapy (Smart Drugs):** This uses drugs or other substances to attack specific cancer cells. Antibodies target specific receptors on cancer cells or other cells that help cancer cells grow, killing them or stopping their growth and spread.

**Immunotherapy:** This aims to boost the body's immune system to fight cancer.

**Hormone Therapy:** Estrogen and progesterone play a role in breast cancer development and progression. Longer exposure to these hormones increases risk. Early menarche, late menopause, late pregnancies, nulliparity, and high estrogen levels are risk factors. Hormone therapy, also called endocrine therapy, is an anti-hormone treatment used to block the effects of these hormones, especially in patients whose cancer cells have hormone receptors. The goal is to completely eliminate the disease.