How to prevent and treat breast cancer

  At present, breast cancer in China is mostly detected by patients who find breast lumps by themselves and then go to the hospital to be diagnosed through doctors’ manual diagnosis, breast ultrasound, mammography and tumor histopathological examination. Surgery is the first choice for early stage breast cancer. After surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and endocrine therapy can be carried out. Early diagnosis and early treatment of breast cancer are very crucial to improve the clinical outcome.  The clinical staging of breast cancer is based on the following three points: 1) the size of the tumor, 2) the number of axillary lymph node metastases, and 3) the presence of distant metastases.  The main surgical procedure for breast cancer is mastectomy + axillary lymph node dissection.  Chemotherapy after surgery usually takes six cycles. One week of treatment and two weeks of rest, i.e. three weeks is one cycle.  Chemotherapy can be followed by radiotherapy depending on the condition.  For patients with positive estrogen receptors on the surface of the tumor cells should be treated with endocrine therapy, usually for five years.