Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to treat cancer. These drugs circulate through your blood to other areas of your body where the cancer may have spread and can kill cancer cells located at great distances from the original tumors. Chemotherapy can be used to treat both early-stage and advanced-stage breast cancer.

There are many variables to chemotherapy:

  • More than 100 different drugs are used in chemotherapy.
  • You may receive a single drug or a combination of drugs. Depending on your combination of drugs, your chemotherapy treatment session may last a few minutes to a few hours.
  • You may receive chemotherapy as an injection, a pill, or an IV infusion.
  • Chemotherapy is administered by nursing professionals under the direction of your medical oncologist. Our pharmacists and nurses are highly trained in the preparation and management of chemotherapy–related drugs.

Your medical oncologist may recommend chemotherapy as part of your breast cancer treatment plan, taking into account the following factors:

  • Cancer stage
  • Tumor characteristics (such as type of receptors)
  • Metastasis risk

Your oncology team will closely monitor your progress and manage your care. Our community-based cancer treatment centers are designed to make your treatment sessions as comfortable as possible.