Pagets disease treatment

January 19, 2018

Pagets disease treatment: The genesis treating breast cancer

Pagets disease treatment is necessary beacause, the mere mention of the disease cancer is enough to send shock waves

If you have Paget’s disease of the breast, surgery is the most likely treatment approach you will need. And in addressing Pagets disease treatment, the type of surgery will depends on the condition of the skin around your nipple and how advanced the underlying cancer is. Such surgical options include:

Simple mastectomy. This is a procedure which involves the removing of the entire breast excluding the lymph nodes in the armpit (axillary lymph nodes). This procedure is essential in cases where there is an underlying breast cancer which has not spread to the lymph nodes.

Lumpectomy. Breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy) involves removing only the affected portion of the breast. Under this procedure, the surgeon removes the nipple and areola along with a wedge- or cone-shaped section of the breast. The surgeon focuses on removing as little breast tissue as possible, while ensuring that the tissue removed includes an outer margin free of cancer cells so that only healthy cells remain.

Lumpectomy to treat Paget’s disease of the breast requires follow-up radiation therapy. Lumpectomy wouldn’t be recommended if you can’t have radiation therapy for some reason. Most women have nipple reconstruction after their treatment.

Pagets disease treatment: Adjuvant therapy

Upon the completion of the operation, the surgeon may recommend an additional treatment (adjuvant therapy) with anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapy), radiation therapy or hormone therapy to prevent a recurrence of breast cancer. The patient’s specific treatment will depend on the stage of the cancer and whether the tumor tests positive for certain characteristics, such as having estrogen or progesterone receptors.

Pagets disease treatment: Coping and support

The mere mention of the disease cancer is enough to send shock waves. But one is eventually diagnosed with breast cancer, the pressure may be unbearable bot to the direct and indirect victims. Adjusting to this piece of news is not easy. At this point, you will need to have some tailored ways of coping with the diagnosis. You may try several things until you find what works well for you. The following can be helpful:

Get to know all the information about your new condition. Schedule an appointment with your doctor and ask all the questions you have. Ask even if you think a given question may not be relevant. Questions about your breast cancer, the type, stage and hormone receptor status. This kind of knowledge will make you feel confident to face the treatment well.

Talk with other breast cancer survivors. People who had been in this before can be very helpful in encouragement and support.

Find someone to talk with. Do not feel pity for yourself, instead find a friend or family member who is a good listener or talk to or a clergy member or counselor.

Keep your friends and family close. Your friends and family can provide a crucial support network for you during your cancer treatment.

Take care of yourself. Love life and keep doing the things you like. Sleep well, feed on healthy diet full of fruits and vegetables, make time for gentle exercise on days you feel up to it, and find time for things you enjoy, such as reading or listening to music. And finally, keep consulting with the experts. You can call AWAREmed health and wellness resource center for more professional help.

Pagets disease treatment: The genesis treating breast cancer

DCIS treatment

January 17, 2018

DCIS treatment: Lumpectomy and radiation

DCIS treatment is one with high hopes of giving positive outcome

Treatment of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is one with high hopes of giving positive outcome. The success rate of removing the tumor and preventing any reoccurrence is almost guaranteed says doctor Dalal Akoury MD, President and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center. In most cases, DCIS treatment options includes lumpectomy and radiation therapy as well as a simple mastectomy.

DCIS treatment: Surgery

Any patient diagnose with DCIS will have to make a decision between treating the disease using breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy) or breast-removing surgery (mastectomy).

Lumpectomy – this type of surgery is essential in removing the area of DCIS alongside a margin of healthy tissue that surrounds it. The advantage of the procedure is that it allows the patient to sparingly remove portions of the affected breast thereby limiting the need for breast reconstruction

Mastectomy – a simple mastectomy is essential for treating DCIS by removing the breast tissue, skin, areola and nipple, and possibly the underarm lymph nodes (sentinel node biopsy) is one option. In most instance, this treatment will be followed by breast reconstruction if the patient wishes to do so. Doctor Akoury reiterates that, most women with DCIS are direct candidates for lumpectomy. However, mastectomy may be recommended if:

You have a large area of DCIS – In the event that the area is big compared with the size of the breast, a lumpectomy may not produce acceptable cosmetic results.

There’s more than one area of DCIS (multifocal or multicentric disease). It’s difficult to remove multiple areas of DCIS with a lumpectomy. This is true if DCIS is found in different sections of the breast.

Tissue samples taken for biopsy show abnormal cells at or near the edge of the tissue specimen – where the DCIS is more than what was anticipated, in that case a lumpectomy may be inadequate to remove all areas of DCIS. Therefore, additional tissue may be excised. This may require removing the breast (mastectomy) if the area of DCIS involvement is larger relative to the size of the breast.

You’re not a candidate for radiation therapy. Radiation is usually given after a lumpectomy. You may not be a candidate if you’re diagnosed in the first trimester of pregnancy, you’ve received prior radiation to your chest or breast, or you have a condition that makes you more sensitive to the side effects of radiation therapy, such as systemic lupus erythematosus.

DCIS treatment: Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy uses high-energy beams, such as X-rays, to kill abnormal cells. Radiation therapy after lumpectomy reduces the chance that DCIS will come back (recur) or that it will progress to invasive cancer.

A type of radiation therapy called external beam radiation is most commonly used to treat DCIS.

Radiation is typically used after lumpectomy. But for some women, radiation may not be necessary. This might include those with only a small area of DCIS that is considered low grade and was completely removed during surgery.

DCIS treatment: Tamoxifen

The drug tamoxifen blocks the action of estrogen — a hormone that fuels some breast cancer cells and promotes tumor growth — to reduce your risk of developing invasive breast cancer.

Tamoxifen is effective only against cancers that grow in response to hormones Tamoxifen isn’t a treatment for DCIS in and of itself, but it can be considered as additional (adjuvant) therapy after surgery or radiation in an attempt to decrease your chance of developing a recurrence of DCIS or invasive breast cancer in either breast in the future.

Tag Archives: Lumpectomy