Breast Cancer
The incidence of breast cancer has increased dramatically over the past two decades. During the 1950s, it was estimated that one out of every twenty Americans would develop this disease. These estimates have been revised many times over the past forty years as the incidence of breast cancer has skyrocketed. It is currently estimated that one out of eight women, or 12 percent of all women in this country, will develop breast cancer during her lifetime. This is a staggering number, placing breast cancer as the most common cancer of American women today. It is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in women, behind only lung cancer in its mortality rate. In absolute numbers, 180,000 new cases of breast cancer were projected for 1993, as well as 46,000 deaths from this disease.

Breast cancer cells, like other malignancies, invade and destroy normal tissue (unlike benign tumors, which remain confined within a specific area). Breast cancer cells first grow within the breast tissue itself. In the later stages of the disease, the cancerous cells spread to other parts of the body near or adjacent to the breast (as with invasion to the lymph nodes). The cancerous cells can also invade distant sites, like the liver and the bones.

How high a woman's chance of survival is depends on how early the cancer is detected. The earlier the detection and the more localized a tumor is to the breast tissue itself, the more likely a woman is to have a long term recovery from this disease (five years or more). For example, women with localized tumors are eight times more likely to survive the disease long term than a woman with an advanced case that has spread throughout her body.

Risk Factors for Breast Cancer
Not all women have the same risk of developing breast cancer. While any woman can develop the disease, certain factors do put some women statistically at greater risk:

• Previous history of breast cancer.

• Family history of breast cancer. This is particularly pertinent if a woman's mother or sisters had the disease.

• Early onset of menstrual periods.

• Late menopause - Women who menstruate for more than 40 years seem to be at particular risk of breast cancer.

• Postmenopausal age. Most breast cancers occur after age 50.

• Childlessness or having a first child after age 30.

• Bottle feeding. Women who nurse their children appear to be at lower risk.

• Certain types of "atypical" cell patterns with benign (noncancerous) breast disease.

• High fat diet - This seems to be a risk factor for some cases of breast cancer.

• Obesity - A high-fat and too-rich diet causes women to be overweight, which is a risk factor for the development of this disease.

• Alcohol use — more than nine drinks per week significantly increases the risk.

• Height or tallness is a risk factor.

• Affluence or degree of wealth.

• Radiation exposure.

• Prolonged estrogen and progesterone use (this is still a controversial area in medicine, with some studies supporting this view and other studies contradicting it).

• Urban lifestyle.