Early Breast Cancer Treatment

Whether your breast cancer is early or advanced, treatments are available. Sometimes more than one treatment at a time is needed. Together, you and your doctor can develop a breast cancer treatment plan that is appropriate to your particular situation.

On this Page

Common early breast cancer treatments

  • Surgery: for many women with early breast cancer, surgery is an important part of the treatment. Often doctors allow women to choose between two different procedures. The first, a lumpectomy (sometimes referred to as partial mastectomy), is breast-conserving surgery in which just the tumor and some surrounding normal tissue are removed. In addition, some lymph nodes under the arm may also be removed. The second procedure, a mastectomy, involves the removal of the entire breast. Often some or all of the lymph nodes under the arm are removed
  • Radiation therapy: radiation therapy is often used after lumpectomy and partial mastectomy to kill any cancer cells that may not have been removed during surgery. It uses radiation (for example, x-rays) to kill the cancer cells
  • Chemotherapy: cytotoxic chemotherapy is treatment with drugs that attack and kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy also kills some rapidly growing normal cells, including the cells in the hair follicles
  • Hormonal treatment: hormonal treatment is a common way of treating breast cancer in women whose tumors are hormone receptor positive. These drugs can block the effect of estrogen or reduce estrogen levels, which reduces the risk of cancer coming back (recurrence)
back to top

What is adjuvant therapy?

Adjuvant treatment is given in addition to the primary (initial) treatment. With breast cancer treatment, this means that another type of therapy is being used after your primary breast cancer treatment to help reduce the risk of recurrence.

  • After surgery, a small number of cancer cells may still remain in your body
  • Not all patients have these cells, but if you do, they can continue to multiply and spread
  • Adjuvant therapy is given to kill these cells
  • The benefits of adjuvant therapy in breast cancer may include a decreased chance the cancer will come back, or recur
back to top

Important Information About ARIMIDEX

ARIMIDEX is approved for adjuvant treatment (treatment following surgery with or without radiation) of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer.

ARIMIDEX is approved for the initial treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive or hormone receptor-unknown locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer and for the treatment of postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer that has progressed following treatment with tamoxifen. Patients with hormone receptor-negative disease and patients who did not previously respond to tamoxifen therapy rarely responded to ARIMIDEX.

Important Safety Information About ARIMIDEX

  • Prescription ARIMIDEX is only for postmenopausal women. ARIMIDEX should not be taken if you are pregnant because it may harm your unborn child
  • Based on information from a study in patients with early breast cancer, women with a history of blockages in heart arteries (ischemic heart disease) who take ARIMIDEX may have a slight increase in this type of heart disease compared to similar patients who take tamoxifen
  • ARIMIDEX can cause bone softening/weakening (osteoporosis) increasing the chance of fractures. In a clinical study in early breast cancer, there were more fractures (including fractures of the spine, hip, and wrist) with ARIMIDEX (10%) than with tamoxifen (7%)
  • In a clinical study in early breast cancer, some patients taking ARIMIDEX had an increase in cholesterol. Skin reactions, allergic reactions, and changes in blood tests of liver function have also been reported
  • In the early breast cancer clinical trial, the most common side effects seen with ARIMIDEX include hot flashes, joint symptoms (including arthritis and arthralgia), weakness, mood changes, pain, back pain, sore throat, nausea and vomiting, rash, depression, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, fractures, swelling of arms/legs, insomnia, and headache
  • In advanced breast cancer trials, the most common side effects seen with ARIMIDEX versus tamoxifen include hot flashes, nausea, decreased energy and weakness, pain, back pain, headache, bone pain, increased cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, and swelling of arms and legs. Joint pain/stiffness has been reported in association with the use of ARIMIDEX
  • ARIMIDEX should not be taken with tamoxifen or estrogen-containing therapies

Please click here for full Prescribing Information.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.FDA.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088 (1-800-332-1088).