Breast Cancer Treatment

When you get a breast cancer diagnosis, you can count on compassionate care and complete treatment options at Ballad Health in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.

Your breast cancer treatment team

A specialized breast cancer team at Ballad Health will provide the care you need – from prevention and screening to detection and treatment and into survivorship.

You’ll benefit from:

• Skilled breast and plastic surgeons
• Board-certified cancer doctors
• Experienced breast care radiologists (doctors who examine images of the body)
• Dedicated breast cancer navigators

Rely on your breast cancer care team to review your newly diagnosed breast cancer and create a care plan that reflects your needs and preferences and uses the latest techniques and treatment choices.

Treating breast cancer

Depending on the type and stage of breast cancer you face, your care plan may include one or more of the following breast cancer treatments:

• Cancer medicines, including chemotherapy and hormone therapy
• Radiation therapy
• Surgery
• Targeted therapy

3D mammography

Detect breast cancer in its earliest stages with this advanced testing.

This technology features:

• Advanced imaging for women with dense breast tissue
• Multiple images of the breast, taken from different angles
• SensorySuite technology, designed to provide a calming experience

Learn more about 3D mammography and the locations it’s offered.

Breast cancer surgery

Trust Ballad Health to provide the best kind of breast cancer surgery for the type, size and location of your breast lump or tumor.

Your doctor may use one of these surgeries to remove cancer:

• Lumpectomy or breast-conserving surgery
• Mastectomy
• Total mastectomy
• Modified radical mastectomy
• Radical mastectomy
• Nipple-sparing mastectomy

Talk with your doctor about your breast reconstruction options at Ballad Health. You may be able to have reconstruction during the same surgery as your mastectomy.

Radioactive seed localization

Breast seed localization uses digital mammography or ultrasound to implant a tiny “seed” – about the size of a sesame seed – into abnormal breast tissue. A small amount of radiation in the seed guides your surgeon to the exact location of the tissue to remove during surgery. To complete the procedure, your surgeon then removes the seed.

Your breast cancer treatment plan may include this advanced technique when you get care at:

• Sycamore Shoals Hospital
• Franklin Woods Community Hospital
• Indian Path Hospital
• Johnson City Medical Center

MammoSite^® targeted radiation therapy

After a lumpectomy, your doctor may recommend follow-up treatment with MammoSite breast radiation therapy to help keep cancer from coming back.

Your doctor will place an uninflated balloon catheter, or thin flexible tube, in your breast where the tumor was. Twice a day for five days, your doctor will place a small, radioactive seed in that spot. The seed delivers radiation therapy to kill any leftover cancer cells.

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Questions about how we treat breast cancer?

Contact Us to Learn More

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Support for your breast cancer journey

Find the support you and your family need during your cancer journey with hospital-based care and services and community resources.

Breast cancer support & survivor groups

Connect with other cancer patients, family members and friends who are going through diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

Look for a breast cancer support group that fits your needs.

• SISTERS Breast Cancer Support Group
• Survive and Thrive Cancer Support Group – Established community support and survivor group offering hope, education and healing to patients, family and friends
• Look Good, Feel Better® – American Cancer Society program to help women undergoing cancer treatments look and feel their best
• Washington County, VA Breast Cancer Support Group

Learn more about cancer support and survivorship programs.