Skip to Content. Use the menu to see other pages. This section explains the types of treatments that are the standard of care for early-stage and locally advanced breast cancer. When making treatment plan decisions, you are encouraged to consider clinical trials as an option. A clinical trial is a research study that tests a new approach to treatment.
Breast cancer starts in the cells of the breast. A cancerous malignant tumour is a group of cancer cells that can grow into and destroy nearby tissue. It can also spread metastasize to other parts of the body. Cells in the breast sometimes change and no longer grow or behave normally. These changes may lead to non-cancerous benign breast conditions such as atypical hyperplasia and cysts.
Click to see larger diagrams of the anterior view image icon and cross-section view image icon of the breast. Breast cancer is a disease in which cells in the breast grow out of control. There are different kinds of breast cancer. The kind of breast cancer depends on which cells in the breast turn into cancer. Breast cancer can begin in different parts of the breast.
Studies have shown that your risk for breast cancer is due to a combination of factors. The main factors that influence your risk include being a woman and getting older. Most breast cancers are found in women who are 50 years old or older. Some women will get breast cancer even without any other risk factors that they know of.