It sounds like there are a few important topics to cover here — treating triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and what happens when lymph nodes are involved. Let's break it down.
Treating TNBC
Because TNBC doesn't have estrogen, progesterone, or HER2 receptors, hormone therapies don't work for it. Treatment typically involves Show Full Answer
It sounds like there are a few important topics to cover here — treating triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and what happens when lymph nodes are involved. Let's break it down.
Treating TNBC
Because TNBC doesn't have estrogen, progesterone, or HER2 receptors, hormone therapies don't work for it. Treatment typically involves a combination of approaches:
- Surgery — either a lumpectomy (removing the tumor and some surrounding tissue) or a mastectomy (removing the entire breast), depending on tumor size and location
- Chemotherapy — can be given before surgery (neoadjuvant) to shrink the tumor, or after surgery (adjuvant) to reduce recurrence risk
- Radiation therapy — often used after surgery to destroy any remaining cancer cells
- Immunotherapy — such as pembrolizumab (Keytruda), which helps the immune system recognize and attack cancer cells
- PARP inhibitors — like olaparib (Lynparza) or talazoparib (Talzenna), for those with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations
- Antibody-drug conjugates — such as sacituzumab govitecan (Trodelvy), for advanced or metastatic TNBC when other treatments haven't worked Lymph Node Involvement
When lymph nodes are involved, surgeons may remove them to check whether cancer has started to spread. There are two types of procedures:
- Sentinel lymph node biopsy — removes just one to three lymph nodes
- Axillary lymph node dissection — removes many lymph nodes
Knowing whether cancer has reached the lymph nodes helps doctors determine the stage of the cancer and plan the best treatment approach.
It's always a good idea to talk with your oncology team about which combination of treatments makes the most sense for your specific situation, including your stage, gene mutations, and overall health.
September 22
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