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Page 1 of 2 Post Treatment Problems with Breast Cancer
After Treatment
After the first course of treatment is completed, it is very important to continue with all scheduled follow–up appointments. During these appointments, your doctors will ask questions about any symptoms, perform a physical examination and order laboratory or imaging tests as needed to find recurrences or side effects. Patients should never hesitate to tell their doctors or other health care providers about any symptoms or side effects that concern them.
At first, follow–up physical exams are done every 3–4 months. The longer a woman has been free of cancer, the less often the exams are needed. After 5 years, they are done once a year. Yearly mammograms of the remaining breast and the breast treated by partial or selective mastectomy are needed. Women taking tamoxifen should have yearly pelvic examinations, because the drug can increase their risk of uterine cancer.
Other tests such as blood tumor marker studies, blood tests of liver function, bone scans, and chest X–rays are not usually needed unless symptoms or physical exam findings suggest recurrence. These and other tests may be done as part of evaluating new treatments by clinical trials.
If initial exams and tests suggest a recurrence, a chest X–ray, CT scan, bone scan, and a biopsy may be done. Depending on the location of a recurrent cancer, treatment may involve surgery, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy, or chemotherapy.
Checkup for Metastases
The physician will perform regular physical exams, with special attention to the breast(s), lymph nodes, liver and skin, and will order regular mammography. Other tests may include X–rays of the lungs, blood tests to check the liver and kidneys, or to monitor tumor markers in the blood (Tumor markers are substances found in the blood, which may be elevated in cancer patients). In addition, other special exams of the lungs, liver or bones, including bone scans may be done. A woman should discuss with her doctor what her follow–up schedule would be.
Removal of lymph nodes
Doctors remove the lymph nodes under the arm in order to determine the stage by biopsy as well as a part of the treatment for breast cancer. For breast cancer, removal of 5–10 lymph nodes is adequate as a staging procedure.
Lymph Edema
Lymph–edema is an accumulation of fluid that causes swelling of an extremity. Lymph–edema occurs after trauma to or removal of the lymph nodes.
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