Treatment by Breast Cancer Diagnosis
You play an active role in making treatment decisions by understanding your breast cancer diagnosis, your treatment options and possible side effects.
Together, you and your health care provider can choose treatments that fit your values and lifestyle.
The sections below describe the recommended treatments for different breast cancer diagnoses:
- Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)
- Early and locally advanced breast cancer
- Inflammatory breast cancer
- Metastatic breast cancer
We also have information on:
- Triple negative breast cancer
- Paget disease of the breast (Paget disease of the nipple)
- Male breast cancer
- Breast cancer treatment during pregnancy
- Unique issues for young women with breast cancer
- Genetic testing after a breast cancer diagnosis
Learn about factors that affect treatment options.
Learn about financial assistance.
Komen Financial Assistance Program |
Susan G. Komen® created the Komen Financial Assistance Program to help those struggling with the costs of breast cancer treatment by providing financial assistance to eligible individuals. To learn more about this program and other helpful resources, call the Komen Breast Care Helpline at 1-877 GO KOMEN (1-877-465-6636) or email helpline@komen.org. Se habla español. |
Your breast cancer treatment plan
Your breast cancer treatment plan is based on both medical and personal choices. Each treatment option has risks and benefits to consider along with your own values and lifestyle.
Your treatment is based on:
- The biology of the tumor, including biomarkers (such as hormone receptor status and HER2 status)
- Tumor profiling test results, for some estrogen receptor-positive breast cancers
- The stage of the breast cancer
- Your overall health, age, menopausal status and other medical issues
- Your personal preferences
Because of the differences between tumors and between people, your treatment plan may differ from someone else’s, even though you both have breast cancer. Treatment is personalized to give the most effective treatment for each person’s breast cancer. This is called personalized medicine.
Watch our video of Komen Scholar Dr. Mariya Rozenblit as she reviews some things that can help guide your treatment.
Playing an active role
You play an active role in making treatment decisions by understanding your breast cancer diagnosis, your treatment options and possible side effects.
Together, you and your health care provider can choose treatments that fit your values and lifestyle. This is called shared decision-making.
Local therapy and systemic therapy
Breast cancer treatment can be divided into local therapy and systemic therapy.
Local therapy
Local therapy removes the cancer from a local (limited) area, such as the breast, chest wall and lymph nodes in the underarm area. It also helps make sure the cancer doesn’t come back in that area.
Local therapy includes surgery, with or without radiation therapy to the breast and nearby lymph nodes.
Systemic therapy (neoadjuvant therapy and adjuvant therapy)
Systemic therapy aims to kill or disable cancer cells that may have spread from the breast to other parts of the body. These cells are too small to see on scans or to measure with lab tests.
Systemic therapy uses drug therapies that travel throughout the body to kill or disable cancer cells. It’s used in addition to (an adjunct to) breast surgery. So, these treatments are often called adjuvant therapy when given after surgery, and neoadjuvant therapy when given before surgery.
Learn about drug therapies used to treat breast cancer.
Learn about factors that affect treatment options.
How does your age affect your treatment plan?
No matter your age, your treatment plan depends on many factors, such as tumor stage, tumor grade, hormone receptor status and HER2 status.
Your overall health and other health conditions also play a role. For example, if you have heart disease, some medications used to treat breast cancer can do more harm than good.
All these factors, as well as your age, are considered when planning your treatment.
Learn more about factors that affect treatment.
Early menopause and fertility
Young women may have special concerns about early menopause and loss of fertility due to breast cancer treatment.
Learn about issues for young women with breast cancer.
Personalized medicine
What is personalized medicine?
There’s no standard medical definition for personalized medicine (also called precision medicine). So, you may hear this term used in different ways.
For breast cancer, the goal of personalized medicine is to give the most effective treatment for each person’s breast cancer. This involves:
- Getting the best results.
- Avoiding unnecessary treatment. All treatments for breast cancer have side effects and other risks. Avoiding unnecessary treatments avoids these side effects and risks.
- Developing therapies to target specific tumors or specific cellular pathways that lead to tumor growth.
- Identifying which people will respond best to each treatment.
Learn more about factors that affect treatment.
How is breast cancer treatment personalized?
To personalize breast cancer treatment, health care providers use information related to the tumor and information related to the person.
Treatment is personalized based on the groups a person belongs to (such as people with HER2-positive breast cancers, people with lymph node-positive breast cancers, women who are premenopausal and other groups) rather than to a specific person.
The results of clinical trials show us which therapies are most effective in which groups of people. If a certain therapy is effective in a group you belong to, your treatment plan may be personalized to include that therapy.
However, there’s no way to predict how any one person will respond to a certain treatment.
Factors related to the tumor
Breast cancers differ in many ways. These differences help personalize treatment to give the most benefit to each person. They also give information on chances for survival.
Most factors that help personalize treatment are related to the breast cancer itself. For example, all tumors are tested for:
- Hormone receptor status (used to make decisions about the use of hormone therapy)
- HER2 receptor status (used to make decisions about the use of the HER2-targeted therapies)
Learn more about factors that affect treatment.
A person’s genes
Whether or not a person has certain inherited gene mutations can guide treatment.
For example, people who have a BRCA1 or BRCA2 inherited gene mutation may have a PARP inhibitor included in their treatment plan.
Other personal factors
Some factors that help personalize treatment plans are related to an individual. For example, for a woman whose treatment plan includes hormone therapy, her drug options depend on whether she is in menopause.
After menopause, women can take tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor. Before menopause, women can take tamoxifen, or they can take an aromatase inhibitor combined with ovarian suppression.
Learn more about factors that affect treatment.
Treatment guidelines
Although the exact treatment for breast cancer varies from person to person, evidence-based guidelines help make sure high-quality care is given. These guidelines are based on the latest research and agreement among experts.
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) are respected organizations that regularly review and update their guidelines.
In addition, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has treatment overviews.
Talk with your health care team about which treatment guidelines they follow.
After you get a recommended treatment plan from your health care team, study your treatment options. Together with your health care team, make thoughtful, informed decisions that are best for you. Each treatment has risks and benefits to consider along with your own values and lifestyle.
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The National Academy of Sciences released the report, Delivering High-Quality Cancer Care: Charting a New Course for a System in Crisis. Susan G. Komen® was one of 13 organizations that sponsored this study. The report identified key ways to improve quality of care:
Read the full report. |
Susan G. Komen® Support Resources |
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Updated 04/07/24
