Treatment for early breast cancer includes some combination of:

• Surgery
• Radiation therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Hormone therapy
• HER2-targeted therapy
• CDK4/6 inhibitor therapy
• Immunotherapy, and
• PARP inhibitor therapy

Treatment for early breast cancer is based on:

• The biology of the tumor, including biomarkers (such as hormone receptor status and HER2 status)
• Tumor profiling test results for some estrogen receptor-positive breast cancers
• The stage of the breast cancer
• A person’s overall health, age, menopausal status,
• Personal preferences, and other medical issues

Local therapy removes the cancer from a limited or local area, such as the breast, chest wall and lymph nodes in the underarm area, which are called the axillary nodes. It also helps to ensure the cancer does not recur or come back to that area. Local therapy involves surgery with or without radiation therapy to the breast and nearby lymph nodes.

Systemic therapy uses drug therapies to kill any cancer cells that may have escaped from the breast and spread to other parts of a person’s body. They are called systemic treatments because they treat the entire body.

Systemic therapy is used in addition to breast surgery. So, these treatments are often called adjuvant therapy when given after surgery and neoadjuvant therapy when given before surgery.

Systemic therapy reduces the risk of breast cancer recurrence and improves the chances of long-term survival. However, the potential benefits depend on many individual factors, and a woman should work with her doctors to determine what the benefits may be in her individual case.

More information about treatment options for breast cancer is available in the Treatment section of the Komen website.