CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Dr. Vijay Bindingnavele, a local plastic surgeon, joins us to discuss this disease during Breast Cancer Awareness month. Once a person has been diagnosed with breast cancer, the next step is treatment. The treatment is specifically tailored to each patient based on the characteristics of the tumor itself, its size and whether or not it has spread and the patient's health. The different modalities available are surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Not all are applicable to all patients and it is important to be well informed about all the modalities. After breast cancer is daignosed, your physician will refer you to either a breast surgeon on a medical oncologist. They will then discuss the available options with you. The case may then be referred to a breast cancer team that has a coordinator, a surgical oncologist (breast surgeon), a medical oncologist, a plastic surgeon and a radiation oncologist. After a discussion they will make a recommendation. In general, surgery is
almost always required. This can either be removal of just the cancerous portion of the breast, if the tumor is relatively small, or removal of the whole breast. If a mastectomy is recommended or chosen, then reconstruction is available either in an immediate or delayed fashion. If only the cancerous portion of the breast is removed, then radiation therapy is required. Chemotherapy is recommended unless it is an in-situ, or very early form of cancer.
More from 3News on KIIITV.com:
The Dr. Is In - Breast cancer treatment
Detection, treatment and after options