ABSTRACT
Breast cancer remains the most common cancer in women in the USA. It is estimated that in the year 2004, there will be 215,990 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in women.1 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). Although breast cancer remains a serious health concern in the USA, as well as in other countries, breast cancer mortality is declining in the USA and in other industrialized countries. This decline is thought to be secondary to the increased use of mammographic screening and early detection of breast cancer.
