Cancer

Breast Cancer

Next to skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in American women and the second major cause of death after lung cancer. One out of eight women will develop breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.

Survival statistics

The statistics of getting and surviving breast cancer are very much dependent on the age of the patient and the stage of the cancer when discovered. As stated above, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates that about one in eight women in the United States will develop breast cancer during her lifetime.

Survival rates really depend on a combination of health status, age, stage of the cancer when detected how a patient responds to various forms of treatment, and other factors. See your health care provider for your own personal health assessment.

Risk factors for developing breast cancer

Risk increases with age -- 80% of women with breast cancer are over age 50. Women who have a history of breast cancer in the family, who have never had children, who had their first child after age 30, who began menstruation before age 12, or who complete menopause after age 55 are also at increased risk of breast cancer. Heavy alcohol consumption and obesity have also been shown to increase the risk of breast cancer.

The genetic connection

Within cells, genes contain the hereditary information that is passed down from parent to child. They serve as a sort of "blueprint" for many health indicators. Everyone has two copies of a gene called BRCA1 in the cells of their body, one inherited from their mother and one from their father. In most people, both BRCA1 genes function normally. But in some individuals, one doesn’t function normally. Some of these cell abnormalities make a woman more prone to develop breast or ovarian cancer, and may possibly be associated with cancers of the colon and prostate as well.

Most people who develop breast cancer, however, have normal BRCA1 genes. In fact, only about 5-10% of all breast cancer cases appears to be inherited and not all of these are related to BRCA1. The altered gene is not the single cause of disease, only a contributing factor. There are other factors, not yet identified, that affect the development of cancer. Therefore, people who carry the altered gene are said to have a predisposition or susceptibility to breast and ovarian cancer. Click here to learn more about heredity and breast cancer.

Early detection

Every woman should perform monthly breast self-examination, go for a breast exam by a health professional yearly, and have a mammogram every 1 to 2 years. A mammogram is a x-ray picture of the breast that can detect lumps in the breast when they are at their earliest, most treatable stage -- up to 2 years before a lump can be felt. These procedures will increase the chance of discovering breast cancer early. When detected and treated at an early stage, chances for survival will increase and more treatment options are available.

Factors in treatment and recovery

Your chance of recovery (prognosis) and choice of treatment depend on the stage of your cancer (the size of the tumor and whether it is just in the breast or has spread to other places in the body), the type of cancer, and certain characteristics of the cancer cells. Your age, weight, menopausal status (whether or not you still have menstrual periods), and general health can also affect your prognosis and choice of treatment.

Available treatments for breast cancer

Today, there are treatments for all patients with breast cancer. Four types of treatment are most commonly used: surgery (removing the cancer in an operation), radiation therapy (using high-dose x-rays to kill cancer cells), chemotherapy (using drugs to kill cancer cells), and hormone therapy (using hormones to stop the cells from growing). Biological therapy (using your body’s immune system to fight cancer) and bone marrow transplantation are now being tested in clinical trials. Several treatments may be combined, and specific treatment recommendations depend on the type and location of the tumor, the stage at which it has been detected, and the patient’s age and general health.

Clinical trials

Before you start treatment for breast cancer, you may want to think about taking part in a clinical trial. Clinical trials are very controlled studies of new treatments to care for patients. Each study is based on past studies and on what has been learned in the laboratory. Clinical trials are undertaken to find new and better ways to help cancer patients. If clinical trials show that the new treatment is better than the treatment currently being used, the new treatment may become the standard treatment.

If you wish to learn about clinical trials for your kind of cancer, you can call the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (TTY 1-800-332-8615). The call is free and a trained information specialist will talk with you and answer your questions.

To learn more about the National Cancer Institute, click on the for more information button above.