A Review on Breast Cancer:An Overview

Each year more than one million women are diagnosed with breast cancer worldwide over half of whom will die from the disease. Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer death for women. Extensive breast cancer screening programmes and the development of new treatments have improved the prognosis of breast cancer overall. However the average year survival rate for women with late stage or advanced breast cancer remains low. On average only 35% of women with advanced breast cancer are alive five years after diagnosis. A third of women are diagnosed with breast cancer at a late stage4 when the disease has a poor prognosis. Treatment options for breast cancer vary depending on the stage at which the cancer is diagnosed. Surgery and radiotherapy are commonly used to treat women with early stage breast cancer. Chemotherapy, hormonal and targeted therapies are frequently used to treat patients with more advanced forms of the disease.