| Abstract: |
The breast is a hormone sensitive gland that develops during adolescence. Diseases of the breast comprise a spectrum of disorders ranging from benign to malignant. Breast cancer remains the most common malignancy among American women, comprising 15.2% of incident cancer cases in the United States. The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately 281,550 incident cases of invasive breast cancer in females in addition to approximately 48,000 incident cases of ductal carcinoma in situ will be diagnosed in 2021. Approximately 43,600 women are expected to die from breast cancer, making breast cancer the second leading cause of cancer-related death after lung cancer. The lifetime risk among women of developing breast cancer is 12.5% (1 in 8); the lifetime risk of dying from breast cancer is 3.6% (1 in 28). Recent advances in screening and systemic therapies have been credited with improved disease-free and overall survival. This decline is thought to be secondary to the increased use of mammographic screening with early detection of breast cancer and the use of effective adjuvant therapies. This chapter presents an overview of breast cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment of benign and malignant conditions of the breast. Some of the many factors that have led to improved disease-specific survival include early screening and improvement in adjuvant therapies, as well as decreased rates of hormone replacement therapy as a result of the Women’s Health Initiative reports. © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. |
