Frequently Asked Questions
Understanding Breast Cancer
Before you can launch an effective battle against breast cancer, it's important to understand some basics: What is breast cancer and how does it happen? What are the stages of breast cancer, and why are they important to you? What are some of the myths about your risk of breast cancer?
In this section, you'll find answers that help you move forward with a solid grounding in the facts, including information about:
How Breast Cancer Happens
 The breast is a gland designed to make milk. The lobules in the breast make the milk, which then drains through the ducts to the nipple. Like all parts of your body, the cells in your breasts usually grow and then rest in cycles. The periods of growth and rest in each cell are controlled by genes in the cell's nucleus. The nucleus is like the control room of each cell. When your genes are in good working order, they keep cell growth under control. But when your genes develop an abnormality, they sometimes lose their ability to control the cycle of cell growth and rest.
Breast cancer is an uncontrolled growth of breast cells.
Cancer has the potential to break through normal breast tissue barriers and spread to other parts of the body. While cancer is always caused by a genetic "abnormality" (a "mistake" in the genetic material), only 5–10% of cancers are inherited from your mother or father. Instead, 90% of breast cancers are due to genetic abnormalities that happen as a result of the aging process and life in general.
While there are things every woman can do to help her body stay as healthy as possible (such as eating a balanced diet, not smoking, minimizing stress, and exercising regularly), breast cancer is never anyone's fault. Feeling guilty, or telling yourself that breast cancer happened because of something you or anyone else did, is counterproductive.
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Who Gets Breast Cancer?
Breast cancer is the most common cancer to affect women. In 2004, it is estimated that about 216,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in the United States, along with 59,390 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer.
Every woman is at SOME risk for breast cancer—this is merely the "risk" of living as a woman. But there are many risk factors that can make one woman's picture differ substantially from another's. When you understand your own particular risk profile, you are in a better position to manage it and don't have to fear the unknown.
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Myths About Breast Cancer
What is your risk of breast cancer? Which breast cancer treatment is right for you? What about antiperspirants and breast cancer?
What you don't know CAN hurt you. Misinformation can keep you from recognizing and minimizing your own risk of breast cancer or getting the very best possible care. Arm yourself with the facts.
Here are ten common myths about breast cancer, followed by myths about specific types of breast cancer treatment.
1) Breast cancer only affects older women.
No.
While it's true that the risk of breast cancer increases as we grow older, breast cancer can occur at any age. From birth to age 39, one woman in 231 will get breast cancer (<0.5% risk); from age 40–59, the chance is one in 25 (4% risk); from age 60–79, the chance is one in 15 (nearly 7%). Assuming you live to age 90, the chance of getting breast cancer over the course of an entire lifetime is one in 7, with an overall lifetime risk of 14.3%.
2) If you have a risk factor for breast cancer, you're likely to get the disease.
No.
Getting breast cancer is not a certainty, even if you have one of the stronger risk factors, like a breast cancer gene abnormality. Of women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 inherited genetic abnormality, 40–80% will develop breast cancer over their lifetime; 20–60% won't. All other risk factors are associated with a much lower probability of being diagnosed with breast cancer.
3) If breast cancer doesn't run in your family, you won't get it.
No.
Every woman has some risk of breast cancer. About 80% of women who get breast cancer have no known family history of the disease. Increasing age – just the wear and tear of living – is the biggest single risk factor for breast cancer. For those women who do have a family history of breast cancer, your risk may be elevated a little, a lot, or not at all. If you are concerned, discuss your family history with your physician or a genetic counselor. You may be worrying needlessly.
4) Only your mother's family history of breast cancer can affect your risk.
No.
A history of breast cancer in your mother's OR your father's family will influence your risk equally. That's because half of your genes come from your mother, half from your father. But a man with a breast cancer gene abnormality is less likely to develop breast cancer than a woman with a similar gene. So, if you want to learn more about your father's family history, you have to look mainly at the women on your father's side, not just the men.
5) I'm at high risk for breast cancer and there's nothing I can do about it.
No.
There are several effective ways to reduce—but not eliminate—the risk of breast cancer in women at high risk. Options include lifestyle changes (minimize alcohol consumption, stop smoking, exercise regularly), medication (tamoxifen, also called Nolvadex); and in cases of very high risk, surgery may be offered (prophylactic mastectomies, and for some women, prophylactic ovary removal). Be sure that you have consulted with a physician or genetic counselor before you make assumptions about your level of risk.
6) A breast cancer diagnosis is an automatic death sentence.
No.
Fully 80% of women diagnosed with breast cancer have no signs of metastases (no cancer has spread beyond the breast and nearby lymph nodes). Furthermore, 80% of these women live at least five years, most longer, and many live much longer. Even women with signs of cancer metastases can live a long time. Plus promising treatment breakthroughs are becoming available each day. Back to top
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