Breast cancer occurs in the epithelial cells which line the ducts or lobules of the breast tissue. Breast cancer is malignant (cancerous) proliferation of these epithelial cells. Breast cancer is one of the leading cancers in women and among epithelial cancers breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. Breast cancer can occur only rarely if ever among men and the ratio of female to male is 150:1.
In regards to occurrence breast cancer is very common, but due to improved treatment in case of breast cancer the mortality has come down to a great extent in most of the countries where the cancer treatment facilities are available. Unlike other cancers, breast cancer has very good survival rate if treated properly. As compare to number of breast cancer detection every year, the number of deaths due to breast cancer is much less due to improved survival with adequate treatment.
Breast cancer is dependent on hormone and a woman without functional ovaries do not develop breast cancer and also women who has never taken estrogen replacement therapy also do not develop breast cancer. Due to the hormone dependency, breast cancer shows typical pattern in occurrence. The incidences of breast cancer start increasing after menarche (starting of menstruation in females) and increase till menopause, from where the incidence starts declining again.
Three dates in women’s life has major impact on breast cancer incidence, they are age at menarche, age at first full-term pregnancy and age at menopause. Early menarche increase risk of breast cancer e.g. menarche at 12 years of age increase the risk of breast cancer by 50-60% in compare to menarche at the age of 16 years. First full term pregnancy at the age of 18 years reduces the risk of breast cancer by approximately 35% in compare to women without children. Menopause at early age reduces the risk of breast cancer e.g. menopause 10 years earlier can reduce risk of breast cancer by 35%.
The outcome of treatment of breast cancer depends on the stage of breast cancer. Stages of breast cancer are divided from Stage I through Stage IV, the worst results with the Stage IV.
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