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Better Treatment Leads to Better Outcomes

The Breast Evaluation Center, created by Fox Chase Cancer Center, offers patients access to a multi-specialty team of experts who tailor a comprehensive treatment plan for each individual patient. Our breast cancer team is committed to improving breast cancer care with the newest treatments and helping assure a future free of breast cancer through research.

Determining the Best Treatment for You

For most women diagnosed with breast cancer, treatment comes in 2 phases (local therapy and systemic therapy):

1. Local therapy - Breast surgery with or without radiation. The goal is to eliminate the cancer in the breast area and underarm lymph nodes to determine the risk of spread to other parts of the body.
2. Systemic therapy - Includes chemotherapy, hormonal therapy and/or targeted biologic therapy. These treatments work throughout the body to kill any cancer cells that may have already spread beyond the breast and underarm lymph nodes. If the risk of spread is low, systemic therapy is not necessary.

Your primary, or initial, treatment and your adjuvant breast cancer treatment (treatment given as a follow-up if needed) may include:

• Breast conserving surgery (lumpectomy) or mastectomy
• Lymph-node surgery, including sentinel lymph-node biopsy and/or axillary dissection
• Reconstructive surgery
• Systemic therapy, including innovative breast cancer chemotherapy, hormonal therapy and targeted biologic therapy
• IMRT and MammoSite™ radiation therapy
  

Comprehensive support services are an important part of the treatment plan. Certified oncology nurses, social workers, rehabilitation specialists and other health professionals work together to meet the complex needs of people with cancer and their families, including support groups for both patients and family members.

Our multi-specialty cancer care teams work with Fox Chase behavioral researchers to carry out studies that help address the psychosocial needs of breast cancer patients and their families and improve coping strategies for women at high risk of breast cancer.

For more information about breast cancer treatment and prevention at Fox Chase Cancer Center or to make an appointment, call 1-888-FOX CHASE (1-888-369-2427). The breast cancer scheduling department can be reached at 215-728-3001.