Fertility in women who do not have chemotherapy is unaffected by breast cancer. Doctors generally recommend that women wait at least two to three years after initial diagnosis to become pregnant, because the risk of recurrence is greatest then. Early detection followed by prompt treatment offers the best chance to treat breast cancer successfully. Only women get breast cancer. The numbers for women are 184,300 and 44,300, respectively.
All women are at risk, and risk increases with age.
The majority of women with breast cancer have no family history of the disease. A woman whose mother, sister, daughter, or grandmother had breast cancer has an increased risk of developing the disease. These women should be screened earlier and possibly more often. Small-breasted women cannot get breast cancer. Some studies have even suggested that breast feeding may reduce a women's risk of developing the disease.