Understanding the Stages of B... Video Transcript

Webcast Transcript

In terms of the systemic therapy, there are hormonal therapies where estrogen is either reduced or its effect is blocked from the cancer cell. There is also chemotherapy.

ANNOUNCER: Treatment for later stage breast cancer usually focuses less on surgery and more on other types of treatments.

MARISA WEISS, MD: If the cancer is hormone receptor positive, it involves hormonal therapies. If it's not, or if the cancer is aggressive, chemotherapy is usually initiated either one agent, one chemotherapy, at a time or sometimes in combination.

And then there are local therapies that are pulled in as needed. So let's say someone has metastatic breast cancer to the back. We may use radiation to help with back pain.

ANNOUNCER: Today, as we discover more about the nature of breast cancer, the chances of each woman being a cancer survivor improve.

MARISA WEISS, MD: For women with breast cancer today, they have so many more treatment options than they ever had before, within each category of surgery, radiation, hormonal therapies, chemotherapies, immune therapies as well as complementary medicine.

I'm optimistic, but I also know that this is a complicated disease that's going to take a long time to figure out.

Related Videos

A Good Doctor-Patient Relationship in Breast Cancer
What is Hormone Receptor Positive Breast Cancer?
Hormone Replacement Therapy vs. Hormonal Treatment: What's the Difference?
Living with Breast Cancer Treatments: Personal Stories
Talking to Your Doctor About Early-Stage Breast Cancer