Breast Cancer

INCIDENCE Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women and has the highest fatality rate of all cancers affecting this sex. It is the leading cause of death among women aged 35-54. In 1999 an estimated 175,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer. That is one woman every three minutes. At the same time 43,000 will die, at the rate of one every two minutes. The incidence of men diagnosed with breast cancer is rare, however it …

…of developing recurrent cancer after a mastectomy.. Chemotherapy is used in the management of patients with recurrent breast cancer usually after the failure of previous hormonal manipulations. A variety of chemotherapeutic agents are used in various combinations, sometimes with a corticosteroid to suppress endogenous adrenal function or with the estrogen antagonist tamoxifen. The agents in chemotherapy have demonstrated value in halting or delaying the appearance of metastases, especially in premenopausal patients, and in treating recurrences.