Navigating Breast Cancer Treatment Options - Yale Medicine Explains

Transcript

• 00:11There are many different treatments
• 00:12for breast cancer because breast
• 00:14cancer isn't one disease.
• 00:17When you have
• 00:18many different subtypes of breast
• 00:20cancer, they're not necessarily all
• 00:22gonna respond to the same
• 00:23treatment.
• 00:25And as
• 00:26clinicians,
• 00:28our job is to
• 00:30work with people and try
• 00:31to help them arrive at
• 00:33the right treatment plan for
• 00:35the cancer and for them.
• 00:40We look at several different
• 00:41characteristics,
• 00:43including the expression of hormone
• 00:46receptors,
• 00:47things like estrogen receptor or
• 00:49progesterone receptors.
• 00:51There are breast cancers that
• 00:52are sensitive to female reproductive
• 00:54hormones. We call them estrogen
• 00:56receptor positive cancers.
• 00:58They're cancers that are not
• 01:00sensitive to those hormonal influences.
• 01:03When we treat any cancer,
• 01:05we really have two goals.
• 01:08We need to get local
• 01:09control where the cancer is,
• 01:11and we need to make
• 01:11sure there's systemic control so
• 01:13the cancer doesn't go elsewhere
• 01:14in the body.
• 01:16We wanna make sure
• 01:18that
• 01:19that patient
• 01:21is treated and can go
• 01:23on and lead a normal
• 01:24life
• 01:25without problems from cancer and
• 01:27without
• 01:28challenges from side effects of
• 01:29the treatment we've given.
• 01:37Surgery and radiation
• 01:39are primarily
• 01:40given
• 01:41to control the cancer that
• 01:42is in the breast and
• 01:44to prevent any recurrence of
• 01:46the cancer.
• 01:47As we plan an operation,
• 01:49it's really specific for individual
• 01:51patients. We can do a
• 01:52mastectomy and remove the entire
• 01:54breast, or we can do
• 01:55breast conservation,
• 01:56which is removing the area
• 01:57where the cancer is with
• 01:58a clear margin followed by
• 02:00radiation therapy.
• 02:02And when we treat breast
• 02:04cancer,
• 02:05not only do we have
• 02:06to use local therapies, which
• 02:08are surgery and radiation,
• 02:09we also use medical therapies.
• 02:17We give
• 02:18treatments like hormonal therapy, chemotherapy,
• 02:23and immunotherapy
• 02:24to prevent the cancer
• 02:26from showing up again in
• 02:28some other place.
• 02:30A newer class of drugs
• 02:31we call targeted therapies.
• 02:33These can be oral or
• 02:35intravenous,
• 02:36and they specifically
• 02:37go after a protein on
• 02:40the tumor cell and are
• 02:41much more selective
• 02:43than our traditional chemotherapy
• 02:45agents where they can be
• 02:47potentially more effective
• 02:49and in some cases have
• 02:50less toxicity.
• 02:52Immune therapy is very important,
• 02:55particularly
• 02:56what we call triple negative
• 02:57breast cancers. These are tumor
• 02:59types that are not driven
• 03:00by estrogen,
• 03:02progesterone,
• 03:02or HER2, and so they
• 03:04tend to be our most
• 03:05aggressive type of breast cancer,
• 03:06and they have been shown
• 03:08to benefit greatly
• 03:10from the combination of chemotherapy
• 03:12and immunotherapy.
• 03:18We often
• 03:20talk through patients in group
• 03:22settings called tumor boards
• 03:24to really come up with
• 03:25the best plan. We have
• 03:26a big multidisciplinary
• 03:28team that's well coordinated
• 03:30and works across multiple sites.
• 03:34We're focused on
• 03:36providing
• 03:37the very best care to
• 03:38the patients we see today
• 03:41and trying to make that
• 03:42care better in the future
• 03:44by conducting research.
• 03:47We are all kind of
• 03:48practicing at the highest standard,
• 03:50and we all have access
• 03:51to the same opportunities to
• 03:53do research
• 03:54and then to enroll our
• 03:56patients in other research trials.
• 03:58This allows patients to have
• 04:00the latest access to both
• 04:02changes in standard of care
• 04:03as well as the latest
• 04:05in clinical trials,
• 04:07which are bringing forward the
• 04:08most exciting,
• 04:10evolving treatments for breast cancer.
• 04:14Our ways of treating breast
• 04:15cancer have changed over the
• 04:17years,
• 04:18and we now cure ninety
• 04:20percent of women with breast
• 04:21cancer.
• 04:22And science marches on.
• 04:25There are new medicines
• 04:26every year. There are new
• 04:28treatments every year.
• 04:30The vast majority of those
• 04:32women are cured today
• 04:34and go on and lead
• 04:36totally normal lives afterwards.
• 04:39That's my hope for everyone
• 04:41in the future.