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Types of Cancer > Breast Cancer > NCI Resources

NCI/PDQ^® Health professionals: Breast Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)

Affiliation: National Cancer Institute
Last Modified: August 26, 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Purpose of This PDQ® Summary

• General Information About Breast Cancer
  • Related Summaries
  • Statistics
  • Genetic Characteristics and Risk Factors
  • Screening
  • Patient Evaluation
  • Prognostic Factors
  • Contralateral Disease
  • Hormone Replacement Therapy
  • Breast Reconstruction
  • Follow-up

• Cellular Classification of Breast Cancer

• Stage Information for Breast Cancer
  • TNM Definitions
  • AJCC Stage Groupings

• Ductal Carcinoma
  • Introduction
  • Treatment Option Overview
  • Treatment Options for Patients with DCIS
  • Current Clinical Trials

• Lobular Carcinoma
  • Introduction
  • Treatment Option Overview
  • Treatment Options for Patients with LCIS
  • Current Clinical Trials

• Stage I, II, IIIA, and Operable IIIC Breast Cancer
  • Primary Therapy
    • Local-regional treatment
    • Breast reconstruction
  • Adjuvant Radiation Therapy
    • Post-breast conservation surgery
    • Postmastectomy
    • Adjuvant radiation therapy late toxic effects
  • Adjuvant Systemic Therapy
    • Hormone therapy
      • Tamoxifen
        • Tamoxifen and chemotherapy
        • Tamoxifen toxic effects
      • Ovarian ablation, tamoxifen, and chemotherapy
      • Aromatase inhibitors
        • Anastrozole
        • Letrozole
        • Exemestane
    • Chemotherapy
      • Overview of chemotherapy
      • Duration of CMF-based chemotherapy
      • Anthracycline-based versus CMF-based regimens
      • The role of adding taxanes to adjuvant therapy
      • Dose-intensity, dose-density, and high-dose chemotherapy
      • Other chemotherapy regimens
    • Monoclonal antibodies
      • Cardiotoxicity with adjuvant trastuzumab
  • Timing of Primary and Adjuvant Therapy
    • Postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy
    • Preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy
    • Adjuvant radiation and chemotherapy
    • Timing of surgery
    • Chemotherapy risks
    • Chemotherapy and tamoxifen risks
  • Treatment Options
    • Primary therapy
  • Current Clinical Trials

• Stage IIIB, Inoperable IIIC, IV, Recurrent, and Metastatic Breast Cancer
  • Inoperable Stage IIIB or IIIC or Inflammatory Breast Cancer
    • Current Clinical Trials
  • Stage IV, Recurrent, and Metastatic Breast Cancer
    • Recurrent local-regional breast cancer
    • Stage IV and metastatic disease
      • Systemic disease
      • Surgery
      • Radiation therapy
    • Current Clinical Trials
  • Systemic Therapy
    • Bisphosphonates
    • Hormone therapy
    • Trastuzumab
    • Lapatinib
    • Cytotoxic chemotherapy
  • Current Clinical Trials

• Get More Information From NCI

• Changes to This Summary (08/26/2009)

• More Information

Purpose of This PDQ® Summary

This PDQ® cancer information summary for health professionals provides comprehensive, peer-reviewed, evidence-based information about the treatment of breast cancer. This summary is reviewed regularly and updated as necessary by the PDQ® Adult Treatment Editorial Board.

Information about the following is included in this summary:

• Genetic characteristics and risk factors.
• Prognostic factors.
• Cellular classification.
• Staging.
• Treatment options by cancer stage.

This summary is intended as a resource to inform and assist clinicians who care for cancer patients. It does not provide formal guidelines or recommendations for making health care decisions.

Some of the reference citations in the summary are accompanied by a level-of-evidence designation. These designations are intended to help readers assess the strength of the evidence supporting the use of specific interventions or approaches. The PDQ® Adult Treatment Editorial Board uses a formal evidence ranking system in developing its level-of-evidence designations. Based on the strength of the available evidence, treatment options are described as either standard or under clinical evaluation. These classifications should not be used as a basis for reimbursement determinations.

This summary is available in a patient version, written in less technical language, and in Spanish.

General Information About Breast Cancer

This summary discusses only primary epithelial breast cancers. Rarely, the breast may be involved by other tumors such as lymphomas, sarcomas, or melanomas. (Refer to the PDQ® summaries on Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma Treatment, Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma Treatment, and Melanoma Treatment for more information.)

Note: Some citations in the text of this section are followed by a level of evidence. The PDQ® editorial boards use a formal ranking system to help the reader judge the strength of evidence linked to the reported results of a therapeutic strategy. (Refer to the PDQ® summary on Levels of Evidence for more information.)

Related Summaries

Other PDQ® summaries containing information related to breast cancer include:

• Breast Cancer Treatment and Pregnancy
• Male Breast Cancer Treatment
• Unusual Cancers of Childhood Treatment (breast cancer in children)
• Genetics of Breast and Ovarian Cancer
• Breast Cancer Prevention
• Breast Cancer Screening

Statistics

Note: Estimated new cases and deaths from breast cancer (women only) in the United States in 2009: 1

• New cases: 192,370.
• Deaths: 40,170.