Veteran actress Aruna Irani recently surprised the fans, stating that she quietly fought not once with breast cancer, but twice.

Irani first found her breast cancer after feeling unwell on a shoot in 2015. “I don’t know how, but I felt something,” he remembered. A doctor initially brushed it as a small lump, but Irani insisted on removing it. When it was advised to take chemotherapy, he refused.

He said, “The doctor told me that I have to undergo clinically chemotherapy. Chemotherapy was not there then that was not advanced. So your skin turned black, and you would feel hair loss. I asked the doctor in another way, and they asked me to take medicine daily. It lasted for five years.”

Chemotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses strong drugs to kill rapidly growing cancer cells in the body. It can be given in the form of tablets or through injections. While it kills cancer cells, it can also affect healthy cells, causing side effects such as hair loss, fatigue or nausea.

However, its decision came with results.

In March 2020, Kovid -19, just before the epidemic, returned to his cancer. This time, Irani followed medical advice and did chemotherapy. “It was my fault because I did not choose the choice of chemotherapy for the first time. This time, I took it,” she said.

His story shared in an interview with Lehran Retro Podcast opens a significant health conversation: can some cancer be treated without chemotherapy?

When is chemotherapy avoided?

Iranian travel is not unique. With progress in accurate oncology, many patients today have the option to release chemotherapy based on their types of cancer and phase.

“Certainly not all breast cancer requires chemotherapy,” Dr. Dr. Mandeep Singh Malhotra told India to India. “Breast cancer is an asymmetrical group, which has many varieties.”

Hormones positive breast cancer, which make 40–50% of breast cancer cases in India, are often powered by hormones such as estrogen and progesterone.

For these, hormone therapy (such as estrogen pills) can be an effective treatment, especially in early stage cases where cancer has not spread.

“In such cases, we can run genomic tests to assess the risk of recurrence. If the cancer is less risk, chemotherapy can often be avoided. These patients can be treated with surgery and hormone therapy alone, which helps them to maintain a good quality of life,” Dr. Malhotra explained.

Importance of personalization

The head of the program for breast cancer at Amrita Hospital in Faridabad. Sakalta Bagmar agreed that the era of “one-size-fit-all” treatment has ended.

“Thanks to molecular diagnosis, now we know that breast cancer is a spectrum of sub-avoidance. Chemotherapy is essential in aggressive types such as triple-negative or HER2 positive cancer, but for hormone receptor-positive cancer, we can often leave it safely, especially when genomic testing shows a low-revolutionary scores,” she said.

Tests such as oncotypes DX and mammaprint help to evaluate oncologists whether a patient can avoid chemo without compromising the effectiveness of treatment.

Is recurrence possible?

However, doctors warned that even with these treatments, recurrence is still a risk.

“Yes, breast cancer may come back, whether chemotherapy was used or not. Repetition depends on how advanced the cancer diagnosis was, and how the patient responded to the initial treatment. That is why the follow -up is so important,” Dr. Bagmar said.

Since more women diagnose breast cancer, especially in India where rates are constantly increasing, understand whether chemotherapy is necessary, becoming an important part of the interaction.

“Today, the beating of cancer is not just about survival. It’s about surviving well, and science is just helping us to do so,” Dr. Bagmar said.

If it is detected early, many hormone-driven breast cancer can be treated without chemotherapy. But personal care, regular monitoring and awareness are essential for long -term survival.