breast cancer site

Every year at this time, cancer doctors and researchers gather at the annual Breast Cancer Symposium in San Antonio, Texas, to hear the latest news in the field.

This year we heard surprising news from investigators at M.D. Anderson: there was an overall 7 percent relative decline in diagnosed cases of breast cancer between 2002 and 2003. The number of breast cancer cases had increased in the 20 years before 2002.

The steepest decline - 12 percent - occurred in women between ages 50 and 69 diagnosed with estrogen receptor positive (ER-positive) breast cancer. ER-positive breast cancer depends on hormones for tumor growth. One reason for the decline, according to the researchers, may be the 2002 announcement that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is a major contributor to breast cancer growth. The announcement led thousands of women to stop taking these drugs.

Although the researchers aren't 100 percent sure that stopping HRT is the only reason for the decline, Peter Ravin, Ph.D., the study's senior investigator, says "it makes perfect sense" if you consider that use of HRT may be an important contributing factor to breast cancer development. "Research has shown that ER-positive tumors will stop growing if they are deprived of the hormones, so it is possible that a significant decrease in breast cancer can be seen if so many women stopped using HRT," he says.

We want everyone to help us raise funds for breast cancer research.

There are many ways you can get involved, whether you fundraise for us by organising your own activity or buy merchandise.

Register your interest now to find out about our sponsored walks taking place across the UK this Autumn.

Together we will beat cancer.

ABOUT THE BREAST CANCER SITE

Your click on the "Fund Free Mammograms" button helps fund free mammograms, paid for by site sponsors whose ads appear after you click and provided to women in need through the efforts of the National Breast Cancer Foundation to low-income, inner-city and minority women, whose awareness of breast cancer and opportunity for help is often limited.

EARLY DETECTION: DO YOU KNOW THE FACTS?

This year in America, more than 211,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 43,300 will die. One woman in eight either has or will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. In addition, 1,600 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 400 will die this year. If detected early, the five-year survival rate exceeds 95%. Mammograms are among the best early detection methods, yet 13 million U.S. women 40 years of age or older have never had a mammogram.