Breast Cancer Care in Brevard County

As part of diagnosing and staging breast cancer, your oncologist is going to establish the type of breast cancer that you have. Breast cancers are typically categorized as carcinomas. The tumors begin in your cells lining the tissues and organs of your body.

Being a woman automatically puts you at risk for developing breast cancer. Although there is no way to prevent breast cancer completely, you can take steps to reduce your risks. Some people with several risk factors never develop cancer, while others with no known risk factors receive a diagnosis.

After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women, with an estimated one in eight women acquiring it during their lifetime. It’s important to become familiar with what’s normal for your breasts. Knowing what to look for can help you be proactive in detecting breast cancer as early as possible, giving you a better opportunity for a complete recovery.

Even though breast cancer affects far too many women, the good news is that it can be detected early. And that starts by performing breast self-exams and visiting your doctor for regular screenings. Many women experience no breast cancer symptoms at all, regular screenings are especially important.

After a breast cancer diagnosis, the oncologist will need to determine if cancer cells have spread outside of the breast. Staging can sometimes take a little while to determine because results need to be gathered from different types of tests.

In addition to understanding the type of breast cancer and the stage, it’s critical that your oncologist knows which hormones, if any, are involved in the growth of the breast cancer. The results play a role in creating the best treatment plan for you.

At Cancer Care Centers of Brevard, our dedicated team of medical oncologists use the latest breast cancer treatment technologies to create a unique treatment plan for each patient. Because there are several types of breast cancer, there are also several types of breast cancer treatment.

Breast reconstruction restores one, or both, breasts to near normal shape, appearance, symmetry, and size following breast cancer surgery. It can involve more than one procedure performed in stages and can either begin at the time of mastectomy or be delayed until a later date.

One of the first places that breast cancer is likely to spread is into your lymph nodes. Once cancer cells have entered the lymph nodes there is a high likelihood they’ve also spread throughout the body. Understanding lymph node involvement will most likely impact the types of breast cancer treatment needed.

Have you or a relative been diagnosed with breast cancer? Then, you may be curious about whether it runs in the family. That's particularly true if more than one family member has had breast cancer. Like many health conditions, there can be a genetic link, although this appears to be the case in only a small percentage of patients.

Cancer Care Centers of Brevard offers access to the latest cancer research clinical trials in Brevard County, Florida through Sarah Cannon Research Institute (SCRI), a joint venture with US Oncology Research. Our participation in breast cancer research allows us to provide new treatment options to patients who may not respond to the standard breast cancer treatment protocols.