Breast cancer is the development of abnormal cells within the breast tissue. These cells grow and replace normal healthy tissue. Breast cancer is a treatable disease.
Early detection is key to surviving breast cancer.
Seventy-five percent of women who have small tumors that are diagnosed before the cancer spreads to other parts of the body survive beyond 10 years after the cancer is first diagnosed. At first, the cancer is a small, firm, usually painless lump, not noticeable unless someone is looking for it. With time it grows and spreads to nearby areas, such as muscle or skin, as well as the lymph nodes under the arm. Ultimately, the tumor can spread to vital organs such as the liver, brain and lungs. In 1999, an estimated 175,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed among women in the United States, and an estimated 43,700 will die.