Radiation therapy after a mastectomy and chemotherapy

femmedevin

I have a friend who had a mastectomy last spring and has just completed chemotherapy.  She will start radiation therapy in about a month.

I understand why women have chemo after radiation therapy, but not why one would do it the other way around.  (It seems counterintuitive to me but that is likely due to my ignorance.)  

Can anyone explain it to me?  Will she likely be having therapy only in the mastectomy area or will it be more generalized?  

I had rads (but no chemo) after a lumpectomy in 2012 but I don't think there's anything in my experience that will be helpful to her.

Moderators

Hi Femmedevin,

You may find some helpful information about this on the main Breastcancer.org site's page on Sequence of Treatment.

We hope this helps!

--The Mods