Free
E-newsletter
Subscribe to Housecall
Our weekly general interest
e-newsletter keeps you up to date
on a wide variety of health topics.
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Definition
By Mayo Clinic staff
Breast cancer is cancer that forms in the cells of the breasts. There are numerous types of breast cancer, but cancer that begins in the milk ducts (ductal carcinoma) is the most common type.
After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women in the United States. Breast cancer can occur in both men and women, but it's far more common in women.
Public support for breast cancer awareness and research funding has helped improve the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Breast cancer survival rates have increased and the number of deaths has been declining, thanks to a number of factors such as earlier detection, new treatments and a better understanding of the disease.
- Breast cancer. American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/webcontent/003090-pdf.pdf. Accessed March 17, 2011.
- What you need to know about breast cancer. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/wyntk/breast/AllPages/Print. Accessed March 19, 2011.
- Chlewbowski RT, et al. Estrogen plus progestin and breast cancer incidence and mortality in postmenopausal women. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2010;304:1684.
- Giuliano AE, et al. Axillary dissection vs. no axillary dissection in women with invasive breast cancer and sentinel node metastasis. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2011;305:569.
- Van Wely BJ, et al. Systematic review of the effect of external beam radiation therapy to the breast on axillary recurrence after negative sentinel lymph node biopsy. British Journal of Surgery. 2011;98:326.
- Robert NJ, et al. RIBBON-1: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase III trial of chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab for first-line treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative, locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology. In Press. Accessed March 22, 2011.
- Burstein HJ. Bevacizumab for advanced breast cancer: All tied up with a RIBBON? Journal of Clinical Oncology. In Press. Accessed March 22, 2011.
- Choueiri TK, et al. Congestive heart failure risk in patients with breast cancer treated with bevacizumab. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2011;29:632.
- Petrelli F, et al. Bevacizumab in advanced breast cancer: An opportunity as second-line therapy? Medical Oncology. In Press. Accessed March 22, 2011.
- Gnant M, et al. Endocrine therapy plus zoledronic acid in premenopausal breast cancer. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2009;360:679.
- Coleman R, et al. Zoledronic acid use in cancer patients. Cancer. 2011;117:11.
- Pruthi S (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. March 22, 2011.
- Unexpected AZURE results lead to rethink for Zometa. Expert Review of Anticancer Therapy. 2011;11:329.
- Moynihan TJ (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. April 3, 2011.
- FDA commissioner removes breast cancer indication from Avastin label. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/ucm279485.htm. Accessed Nov. 18, 2011.
Find Mayo Clinic on