Breast cancer. Part 1: Awareness and common benign diseases

Breast cancer is the most common cancer for women in the United Kingdom and topic on which there is much information. This article discusses the principles behind breast awareness and breast health, detailing common benign breast diseases that cause disproportionate anxiety. The NHS Breast Screening Programme is celebrating 20 years of screening this year, and in all randomized controlled trials of women aged 50 and over, mortality from breast cancer is reduced in those offered screening compared with unscreened controls (although the reduction is not statistically significant in all trials). Once a breast cancer is diagnosed, the different characteristics and stage of the disease can be identified through histopathology and scans. These factors will be discussed later in this article, including illustrating if a cancer is hormone sensitive or HER-2 positive, for example. These factors enable clinicians to recommend a treatment pathway suitable for each individual.