Breast cancer occurs when abnormal cells in the milk ducts or lobules of the breast grow out of control. These abnormal cells can then invade the surrounding breast tissue.
If left untreated, cancer cells in the breast tissue can break away and spread to other parts of the body via the blood stream or lymphatic system.
How common is it?
Breast cancer is fairly common. About one in eight Australian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Breast cancer can occur at any age. The average age of women when they are diagnosed with breast cancer is 59. However, about a quarter of women diagnosed with breast cancer are younger than 50.
Breast cancer can also develop in men, although this is rare. Male breast cancer accounts for about one percent of all breast cancer.
The latest statistics
These are the latest facts and figures for breast cancer in Australia:
- One in eight Australian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.
- About 13,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in Australia each year.
- The risk of breast cancer increases with age. About three-quarters of all cases of breast cancer occur in women aged 50 and over. Less than six percent of cases occur in women under 40.
- A total of 2,641 women died from breast cancer in Australia in 2004.
- Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death in women in Australia.
- More women are now surviving breast cancer than ever before. Overall 86 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer today can expect to be living five years after their diagnosis. In the period 1982-1986 only 71 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer could expect to live five years after their diagnosis.
Source: Breast Cancer in Australia: An Overview, 2006 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and National Breast Cancer Centre, 2006).
The above information has been reproduced with the kind permission of the National Breast Cancer Centre.