Breast Cancer Facts to Know

Prevalence

• Most common form of cancer in women in the United States, excluding skin cancers.
• Approximately 175,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed this year and more than 43,000 women will die from the disease.
• One out of nine women in the U.S. will develop breast cancer in her lifetime – a risk that has increased from one out of 14 in 1960.

Risk Factors

• Every woman is at risk for breast cancer; 70 percent of cases occur in women who have no identifiable risk factors.
• According to the American Cancer Society, risk factors include: aging; personal history of breast cancer; family history of breast cancer; previous breast biopsy; early menstruation; childbirth after 30 or no childbirth; and menopause after 50.

Screening Mammograms/Biopsies

• Fewer than half the women age 40 and older in the U.S. have regular screening mammograms.
• Mammograms can reveal breast cancer at its earliest stage – up to two years before it can be felt in a breast exam.
• More than 1 million breast biopsies are performed each year in the U.S.; approximately 80 percent of breast biopsies are proven benign.
• Open surgical biopsy is the most common biopsy procedure.
• Minimally invasive breast biopsies are increasingly becoming an important option for women because they are accurate, do not involve general anesthesia or sutures, and result in minimal scarring.

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