Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women. Only lung cancer is responsible for more deaths among women in the United States. However, the survival rate for women with localized breast cancer has increased from 80% in the 1950s to 98% today.
Only 5-10% of breast cancers are due to heredity. The majority of women with breast cancer have no known significant family history or other known risk factors.
Breast cancer among men is increasing and more than 2,000 men will be diagnosed this year. While African American women are less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer, they are more likely to die from the disease.
The most proven and significant risk factors for getting breast cancer are being female and getting older. The median age at the time of diagnosis is 61 years old.
The Challenge of Dense Breast Tissue
The most widely accepted breast-screening procedure today is X-ray based film/screen and/or full field digital mammography. However, despite the proven benefits of mammography, visualization of cancers in dense breast tissue through the use of mammography is limited, resulting in missed cancers or in the discovery of later stage cancers. Some 40% of women in Europe and the U.S have some amount of dense breast tissue. In Asia, the numbers rise to 60-70%. Breast cancer risk can be 5-6 times higher for women with significant breast densities compared to women with no dense structures.
Read a mammographer's take on the dense breast cancer risk issue
