Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer
IBTESSAM SAADELDIN
Prof .of Oncology
Faculty of Medicine,Cairo University
Member of The American and European Society of Oncology
IBTESSAM SAADELDIN
Prof .of Oncology
Faculty of Medicine,Cairo University
Member of The American and European Society of Oncology
Breast Cancer the most frequent cancer among women worldwide.
The incidence of breast cancer has increased steadily over the past decades.However,the breast cancer mortality appears to be declining.This could be attributed to successful programs of early detection as well as advances in therapy programs.
Breast cancer development is related to several factors: early menarche ,late menopause,hormone replacement therapy and genetic mutations ,mainly BRCA1&2.Higher incidence is also reported in patients with strong family history of breast cancer. In order to reach higher survival in those patients,early detection is a must.Encouraging women to participate in early detection programs would help treating patients at earlier stage with subsequent better treatmentoutcome . Great advances in treating breast cancer have been achieved in the recent years.The incorporation of genetic profile of tumors and subsequent treatment tailoring led to highercure rates. The identification of HER -2 & 3 family was amega step in breast cancer therapy. Tumors with HER-2 positive score would benefit from the addition of targeted therapy ( Trastuzumab ) to chemotherapy either in the adjuvant or meatstatic settings.The use of targeted therapy was accompanied with highercure rate & improved survival. Recent data released in the last ESMO ( European School of Medical Oncology) showed improvement in overall survival in patients with metastatic breast cancer with theuse of a new targeted therapy: Pertuzumab. However,further research programs testing newdrugs in breast cancer are ongoing . To summarize : improvement of cure rates in breast cancer depends on early detection andthe use of effective new drugs.