Last updated: 11/24/2009

According to the American Cancer Society in 2003, it was estimated that more than 260,000 new cases of breast cancer in women would occur that year. New cases of breast cancer in men were expected to reach 1,300. Rates of incidence have increased since...

1980, due in part to the aging of the population. During the 1990s, breast cancer incidence increased only in women age 50 and over.

For approximately 80% of women, the first indication of cancer is the discovery of a lump in the breast, found either by themselves in a monthly self-exam or by a partner or by a mammogram, a special x ray of the breast that looks for anomalies in the breast. Early detection of breast cancer means that smaller tumors are found that require lessintensive surgery and better treatment outcomes. Simple mastectomy has been the standard treatment of choice for breast cancer for the past 60 years. Newer breast-conserving surgery techniques have been gaining in acceptance since the mid-1980s. For larger hospitals, facilities in urban areas, and health care institutions with a cancer center or high cancer patient volume, these newer techniques are being utilized at a more rapid rate, especially on the East Coast.

Interestingly, though, the National Cancer Institute found in 2003 that American women were 21% more likely to have a mastectomy than their counterparts in the United Kingdom. Though breast-conserving procedures are available and have proven to be viable options, some physicians and women still think breast removal will also remove all of their risk of cancer recurrence. It is clear that treatment options for cancer are highly individual and often emotionally charged.