There have been quite a bit of advancements in the treatment of breast cancer. We have seen various treatments become effective in treating patients. Some examples are chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and targeted therapy. In this post, let’s examine targeted therapy, how it treats breast cancer, its benefits, its disadvantages, and how it will impact the future of breast cancer treatment.
What is Targeted Therapy?
Targeted Therapy is a form of cancer treatment that targets genetic changes that turn healthy cells into cancer cells. Healthcare professionals use this treatment to identify and treat the cancer cells without hurting the healthy cells. They do this by giving tests to see the genetic changes responsible for causing the cancer cells to grow. More than 80 targeted therapies have been developed by healthcare professionals to treat cancer. Sometimes, this form of treatment is used by them as the initial treatment or combined with other treatments.
How Does it Treat Breast Cancer?
Targeted therapy treatments treat various cancers in different ways. These medicines work directly at proteins in breast cancer cells to destroy them or slow down their growth. Several targeted therapy drugs are used to treat different forms of breast cancer. Monoclonal antibodies, for example, are normally used to treat HER2-positive breast cancer. This type of targeted therapy drug is composed of immune system proteins designed to attach to a specific target.
Benefits of Targeted Therapy
Targeted therapy drugs enter the bloodstream and reach almost every area of the body. It is usually given as a pill or through an IV. Sometimes these drugs could be more effective than chemotherapy in treating cancerous diseases. There are even some that could help other types of treatment become more effective. Talk to your doctor about how targeted therapy for breast cancer could impact your condition.
There are some benefits of targeted therapy for patients diagnosed with breast cancer. One of the major ones is that it’s effective at killing cancer cells without doing away with the healthy ones. What makes targeted therapy a go-to for breast cancer treatment is that it helps slow down the growth of cells that have a particular mutation. Many medical doctors view targeted therapy as “personalized medicine” because it allows them to tailor medicine based on the genetic characteristics of the patient’s specific tumor. Ecaterina Dumbrava, M.D., who specializes in Investigational Cancer Therapeutics says that targeted therapy focuses on specific molecules that are the cause of cancer cell growth.
What are the Disadvantages of Targeted Therapy?
While there are a lot of positive things about targeted therapy, this treatment does have its negatives. For starters, it isn’t always a successful with everyone. It could be difficult for a lot of providers to identify a specific tumor with the exact target matching the treatment. Sometimes, the tumor may not react as well to the treatment as they thought. Because targeted therapy is a challenging procedure, healthcare providers are still figuring out how to make it a more effective procedure for every patient.
Another important aspect of targeted therapy is that it does come with some side effect issues. The types of side effects depend on the type of targeted therapy the patient is given. However, some of the most common ones are diarrhea and liver problems. High blood pressure, fatigue, dry skin, and mouth sores are some other common serious side effects of targeted therapy.
Chemotherapy vs Targeted Therapy
Besides targeted therapy, medical providers sometimes utilize chemotherapy in treating breast cancer and other cancerous diseases. How chemotherapy works is that it kills all cells that multiply quickly. Some doctors use it to treat cancerous diseases on their own. However, some medical providers use it with targeted therapy for treatment.
Both treatments have their positives and negatives. Like targeted therapy, chemotherapy does have side effects that could vary from patient to patient. The type of side effects depends on the specific drug or drugs they receive. Another thing chemotherapy has in common with targeted therapy is that it doesn’t work for every patient. That’s why it’s advisable to consult your doctor before deciding which treatment is right for your condition.
Targeted Therapy and the Future of Breast Cancer Treatment
As treatments for breast cancer continue to advance, you can expect targeted therapy to do the same. It has completely evolved how medical providers treat breast cancer and other cancerous diseases. However, it does affect patients in various ways. It’s important to know that it doesn’t work effectively for everyone. How it affects you depends on how healthy you are before treatment, how advanced your cancer is, what specific cancer you’re diagnosed with, and the type of targeted therapy your doctor decides to use on you. If you’re a breast cancer patient, it’s important to contact your doctor before deciding if the targeted therapy treatment is right for you.
If you’re a breast cancer patient, do you see some benefits of targeted therapy for your condition? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below. As always, be sure to like or share this post with the next woman you know battling breast cancer.
