Breast cancer

Breast cancer is the commonest cancer to affect women with a recent estimate of lifetime risk of 1:8. The number of women found to have breast cancer in the UK has risen to 47,000 with the highest rise being in the 50–69 years age group. This is probably attributable to several lifestyle factors such as diet, alcohol consumption, lack of exercise and late pregnancies. Because of earlier diagnosis and major treatment advances, survival rates have been gradually improving; 80% of patients with early breast cancer now survive for 5 years after diagnosis. Recent advances in surgical management include the use of oncoplastic procedures and sentinel node biopsy. The majority of patients will be offered adjuvant treatment, such as radiotherapy, hormones, chemotherapy and biological agents, which aim to reduce local recurrence and improve survival. Novel developments include the use of biological markers to predict outcome and response to chemotherapy. This overview discusses the up-to-date management of breast cancer and recent developments in this field.