Surgery is the most common treatment for breast cancer. In most cases, the surgeon also removes lymph nodes under the arm to help determine whether cancer cells have entered the lymph system. In radical mastectomy, the surgeon removes the breast, the chest muscles, all the lymph nodes under the arm, and some additional fat and skin. For many years, this operation was considered the standard one for women with breast cancer, but it is very rarely necessary and is seldom used now. The rays may be delivered either externally or internally.
Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells.
Chemotherapy for breast cancer is usually a combination of drugs. The drugs may be given by mouth or by injection. Either way, chemotherapy is a systemic therapy because the drugs enter the bloodstream and travel throughout the body. Hormonal therapy is used to keep cancer cells from getting the hormones they need to grow. This treatment may include the use of drugs that change the way hormones work or surgery to remove the ovaries, which make female hormones.