Mastectomy

Breast Cancer Facts

To understand the importance of mastectomy and its role in the overall treatment of breast cancer, it is helpful to review some basic breast cancer facts. As mentioned above, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women and the second most important cause of cancer death for women in the United States. In recent decades, breast cancer has received major attention in the United States, due both to high and increasing rates of breast cancer overall and publicized cases of breast cancer among prominent women. A fact often cited, but somewhat misleading, is that 1 in 7 women will experience breast cancer during their lifetimes. Part of the misleading aspect of this statement is that the rates increase with age. One third of women who develop breast cancer are 75 years of age and over, so for women under 75, the l-in-7 figure is an overestimate, while it is an underestimate for older women. By the age of 50, the chances of developing breast cancer are 1 in 50, for example. Also, breast cancer is very uncommon, but not impossible, among men. Of all breast cancer cases, less than 1 percent occurs in men.

The underlying factors that lead to breast cancer are complex, and there are multiple risk factors. At this point, only a small number of cases are related to discovered genes, such as BRAC1 and BRAC2. Women who are BRAC carriers are more likely than other women to develop breast cancer at a younger age. The frequency of each of these mutations in the general population is about 1 in 217 in the United States. For this group of women, the lifetime risk of developing breast cancer in very high, about 60 percent to 80 percent for a patient with either mutation. One controversy about these women has been whether to consider prophylactic mastectomies (mastectomies prior to the women having cancer), a drastic step, but one that does remove the fear of developing breast cancer in this high-risk group.

There are other genetic components to development of breast cancer. Women who have first-degree relatives (parents, siblings, children) who develop breast cancer are at higher risk than the rest of the female population, and having more-distant relatives (aunts, cousins, etc.) with breast cancer also increases risk. Susceptibility can come from either the mother's or father's side of the family.

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