Breast Cancer
Breast Cancer Information for Patients and Health Professionals
Overview
Although advances in prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment, are having a beneficial impact on incidence, mortality, and survival, breast cancer is responsible for the highest number of new, invasive cancer cases among women each year and is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women in the U.S., after lung cancer. Even when controlled for age and stage at diagnosis, black, non-Hispanic white, and Hispanic women have higher breast cancer mortality rates compared with American Indian/Alaska Native and Asian/Pacific Islander women.
- In 2007, in the U.S., an estimated:
- 178,480 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer.
- 62,030 women will be diagnosed with in situ breast cancer.
- 40,460 women will die from breast cancer.
- Overall, there was a 6% relative decline in breast cancer incidence between 2002 and 2003.
- There was a 14% decrease in incidence rates among women aged 50-69 diagnosed with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer between 2002 and 2003. This may have been due to the recent decline in use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) by postmenopausal women following the publication of the Women’s Health Initiative results.
- More than 2.3 million women in the U.S. have survived breast cancer or are living with breast cancer today.
- Breast Cancer Topic Search — Cancer Topic Searches are prepared literature searches from the National Library of Medicine's PubMed database. Citations on a specific sub-category can be retrieved, or results limited by a date range.
Statistics
Breast cancer incidence, mortality, and survival, including analysis by race and ethnicity, and information about trends in NCI-funded breast cancer research.
- A Snapshot of Breast Cancer
- Fast Stats: Breast Cancer
- Cancer Stat Fact Sheets: Breast
- New Malignancies Following Breast Cancer (SEER Cancer Registries, 1973-2000)
NCI Research on Breast Cancer
Information about NCI-funded grants, clinical trials, and other programs and initiatives with components that primarily target breast cancer.
- Progress in Breast Cancer Research (NCI Women's Health Report FY 2005-2006)
- Breast Cancer Research Projects
- SPOREs in Breast Cancer (Specialized Programs of Research Excellence)
- Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET) (Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences)
Biology and Genetics
- Mouse Models: Mammary Gland Cancer Models
- The Cooperative Breast Cancer Tissue Resource Database
- Breast Cancer Studies (Division of Cancer Epidemiology & Genetics)
- Clinical Trials in Breast Cancer Genetics
Risk Factors
- Breast Cancer and Environment Research Centers
- Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool
- Long Island Breast Cancer Study Project
- Breast/Ovarian Cancer Family Registries
- Women's Health Initiative Observational Study (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
Prevention
- Breast Cancer Prevention Programs (Division of Cancer Prevention)
- Clinical Trials in Breast Cancer Prevention
Early Detection, Diagnosis, and Prognosis
- International Breast Cancer Screening Network
- Clinical Trials
- Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium
- Cancer Biomarkers Research Group (Division of Cancer Prevention)
- The Cooperative Breast Cancer Tissue Resource Database
Treatment
Breast Cancer Reports
Reports on progress and future directions in breast cancer research; reports on meetings and workshops.
- Progress in Breast Cancer Research (NCI Women's Health Report FY 2005-2006)
- Preoperative Therapy in Invasive Breast Cancer: State of the Science Conference
- CISNET Monograph: Impact of Screening and Adjuvant Therapy on US Breast Cancer Mortality (Oct. 2006)
- Cancer Trends Progress Report — 2005 Update: Breast Cancer Screening
- Cancer Trends Progress Report — 2005 Update: Breast Cancer Treatment
- Breast Cancer Progress Report, 2004
- Summary Report: Early Reproductive Events and Breast Cancer Workshop, February 2003
- Charting the Course: Priorities for Research on Breast Cancer, Report of the Breast Cancer Progress Review Group, 1998
