Breast Cancer Facts

In the United States:

• Breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women after skin cancer.
• About 232,670 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in 2014.
• About 62,570 new cases of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) will be diagnosed in women (DCIS is non-invasive and the earliest form of breast cancer) in 2014.
• About 40,000 women will die from breast cancer in 2014.
• The five-year relative survival rate for female invasive breast cancer patients has improved from 75 percent in the mid-1970s to 90 percent today.
• The five-year relative survival rate for women diagnosed with localized breast cancer (cancer that hasn’t spread to lymph nodes or outside the breast) is 98.5 percent. In cancer that has spread to nearby lymph nodes (regional stage) or to distant lymph nodes or organs (distant stage), the survival rate falls to 84 percent or 24 percent, respectively.
• There are more than 2.8 million breast cancer survivors in the U.S., including women still being treated and those who have completed treatment.