Health Library

Chemotherapy may be able to cure breast cancer. If a cure isn't possible, chemotherapy may help keep the cancer from growing or spreading. Or it may help ease symptoms caused by cancer and improve your quality of life.

It is important to remember that a lump or other changes in the breast, or an abnormal area on a mammogram, may be caused by cancer or by other, less serious problems.

You have a better chance of surviving breast cancer if your doctor finds and treats it early, while it's small and hasn't spread. The best way to detect breast cancer early is to be screened regularly. Here's what you need to know.

If you are believed to be at risk for a hereditary cancer syndrome, genetic testing can be helpful. It can be used to look for the gene changes linked to these syndromes.

For some types of breast cancer, hormones, such as estrogen and progesterone, can also cause breast cancer cells to grow. In these cases, hormone therapy is used to help prevent the growth, spread, and recurrence of breast cancer.

Breast cancer is 1 of the most common types of cancer in women in the U.S. Once breast cancer occurs, cancer cells can spread to other parts of the body, making it life-threatening. The good news is that breast cancer is often found early, before it has spread.

Whenever the normal drainage pattern in the lymph nodes is disturbed or damaged - often during surgery to remove the lymph nodes - the arm may swell. This swelling, caused by too much fluid, is called lymphedema.

Studies suggest that MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging) may improve the early detection of breast cancer in women who are considered high risk.

Being told you have breast cancer can be scary, and you may have many questions. But you have people on your healthcare team to help.

Radiation therapy is a breast cancer treatment choice that often uses X-rays to kill cancer cells. There are several ways to give radiation therapy to the breast cancer cells.