Locally advanced breast cancer

Not everyone with locally advanced breast cancer is recommended to have surgery. Of those who do, mastectomy is most common. In some cases, breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy) may be performed. Read about Types of surgery.

Radiotherapy is often recommended as a treatment for people with locally advanced breast cancer. Depending on your individual treatment plan, radiotherapy may be offered before, after, or without surgery. If you have any concerns or questions about the timing of your treatment, it’s a good idea to talk to your doctor.

Read about Radiotherapy.

Chemotherapy can be given before and/or after surgery. Chemotherapy is known as a systemic treatment because it treats the whole body, reducing the chance of cancer coming back in the breast or elsewhere in the body. Read about Chemotherapy and its side effects.

If you have locally advanced breast cancer, you may be offered chemotherapy before surgery. This is called neoadjuvant therapy. Read about neoadjuvant therapy below. 

Targeted therapies:

• stop the growth of particular types of cancer cells 
• are only suitable for some cancers 
• may be used with other breast cancer treatments 
• are a systemic treatment because they treat cancer cells wherever they may be in the body.

The most common targeted therapy is trastuzumab, which targets HER2-receptors on cancer cells. It is given to treat HER2-positive breast cancer.

For more information, read about Targeted therapies for breast cancer.  

These medicines are used to treat breast cancers that are hormone receptor-positive. This is the type of breast cancer in which the breast cancer cells have the receptors for the hormones oestrogen and/or progesterone on them, which causes the cancer to grow. 

Hormone-blocking drugs used to treat early breast cancer include:   

• tamoxifen 
• anastrozole 
• letrozole 
• exemestane.   

Hormone-blocking therapy (sometimes called endocrine therapy) is a ‘systemic’ therapy as the whole body is treated. Read about Hormone-blocking therapy. 

It is common for people with locally advanced breast cancer to have treatment before surgery. This is called neoadjuvant therapy.     

If you have neoadjuvant therapy, it means your treatment may start with chemotherapy, targeted therapy or hormone-blocking therapy, usually given for several months before surgery. Read about Neoadjuvant therapy.