Breast cancer is the commonest form of cancer that occurs in women and, following lung cancer, it is the second major cause of cancer death among females. In 2004 some 186,772 new breast cancer cases were reported according to the American Cancer Society and this figure would seem to be going up on a yearly basis.



It is also worthy of note that breast cancer is not confined only to women and that more than 1,800 men contracted the disease in 2004 and that 362 men died of breast cancer that year.

The breasts in women are complicated pieces of machinery consisting of fat, glands and connective fibrous tissue. They have several lobes which are split into lobules ending in the milk glands and there are also a large number of tiny ducts from the milk glands which join together and culminate in the nipple.

Eight out of ten breast cancer cases start in these ducts in a condition referred to as infiltrating ductal cancer. It is also reasonably common for breast cancer to occur in the lobules where it is called lobular cancer. Other forms of cancer are simply called inflammatory breast cancer.

Changes such as pre-cancerous changes (referred to as 'in situ') are also very commonly seen in women and are changes which have not yet spread from the area of the breast where they were originally spotted. If these changes take place within the ducts then the condition is referred to as ductal carcinoma in situ or DCIS and where the changes occur in the lobules they are referred to as lobular carcinomas in situ or LCIS.

The most serious type of breast cancer is known as metastatic cancer which involves the spread of cancer from the place where it began. It usually metastasizes into the lymph nodes under the arms or above the collarbone on the same side of the body as the cancer which results in pain and swelling as the lymphatic drainage system is compromised. Other relatively common sites of breast cancer metastasis are the liver, brain and the bones.

Besides the clear factor of gender, age is a very important factor when looking at the risk of contracting breast cancer. Although breast cancer can and does arise at just about any age the risk of getting it increases as you get older. A healthy woman aged 30 will usually have a 1 in 280 chance of getting breast cancer by the time she reaches 40 years of age. However, this risk then increases to a probable 1 in 70 chance of developing breast cancer when that same women reaches her forties.

Family history is also an important risk factor for breast cancer with the risk being at its highest when you have a close relative (like an aunt or mother) who has had breast cancer at a young age.