Breast Cancer Treatment
It's not easy to face breast cancer. At Mercy we pride ourselves on the quality of care we provide, but we are most fulfilled when customizing a treatment plan to meet the unique needs of each patient.
After cancer has been diagnosed and the extent of the disease has been determined, a treatment plan is recommended for each individual patient.
This personalization, time, and compassion is what the communities in which we serve need and what our breast cancer patients experience at Mercy.
How is cancer treated?
- Surgery (the most common treatment) - Surgical removal of tumors or cancerous tissue performed in a manner that minimizes invasiveness and speeds recovery.
- Chemotherapy - Delivery of medication to kill rapidly dividing cancer cells, to destroy or slow the growth of cancer cells, relieve symptoms, improve the outcome of surgical or radiation treatments, and/or shrink tumors by diminishing blood supply to cancer cells.
- Radiation oncology - Delivery of radiation using state-of-the-art technologies including Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), mammosite, and access to CyberKnife, which specifically targets tumor cells while avoiding normal tissue. The goal is to shrink tumors, alleviate pressure, and/or target the affected tissue to kill cancer cells and prevent recurrence.
