Breast cancer is responsible for one of every three cancers diagnosed in women. In
2001, approximately 192,200 new cases of invasive breast cancer were diagnosed along
with 46,600 cases of in situ breast cancer. Approximately 40,200 women and 400 men
will die of breast cancer this year. Excluding skin cancer, breast cancer is the commonest
cancer occurring in women and certainly the most feared. Although the lifetime risk of
developing breast cancer is one in eight (12.5%), this reflects the risk of a child just
born developing breast cancer during her lifetime. Risks of developing breast cancer over
the next ten years for women of any age are substantially lower (i.e., 2.5% for a 50-yearold
woman).