What is Breast Cancer?

Also called: Breast carcinoma

Breast cancer is a cancer that starts in the cells of the breast in women and men. Worldwide, breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer after lung cancer (10.4% of all cancer incidence, both sexes counted) and the fifth most common cause of cancer death. In 2005, breast cancer caused 502,000 deaths worldwide (7% of cancer deaths; almost 1% of all deaths).
Breast cancer is about 100 times as frequent among women as among men, but survival rates are equal in both sexes.