Common Treatments for TNBC

August 31, 2015

Your treatment will be based on whether the cancer has traveled to the lymph nodes near your breast, the size of the main tumor and details of pathology tests such as the tumor grade, which shows how quickly the cancer cells are dividing. With early-stage disease, you are likely to have some type of surgery and chemotherapy. You also may have radiation therapy.


Chemotherapyinfo-icon is the most effective systemicinfo-icon, or whole-body, treatment for triple-negative breast cancerinfo-icon. The reason is that chemotherapy works better than other treatments to kill cancer cells that divide quickly, which is very common in triple-negative disease. Chemotherapy also helps prevent breast cancer cells from spreading, or metastasizing, to other parts of the body.

There are many types of chemotherapy. Your doctor will recommend ones best suited for you.


Radiationinfo-icon is a local therapyinfo-icon that kills any cancer cells left in areas of your body after surgeryinfo-icon at high risk for cancer return. Those areas may be in your breast or chest wallinfo-icon, with or without the nearby lymphinfo-icon nodes. Adjuvant radiation therapyinfo-icon helps protect you from the breast cancer coming back in the treated areas, also called local recurrenceinfo-icon.

Radiation is usually given after lumpectomyinfo-icon. If you need a mastectomyinfo-icon, your doctor may recommend radiation therapy to reduce the chance of the cancer coming back in your skin or the chest wall or nearby lymph nodes if:

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