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More than ever before, women are taking an active part in their breast health. At the
center of this change is our growing concern and understanding of breast cancer,
the second most common
form of cancer among women in the United States.
What is breast cancer?
Cells in the body normally divide (reproduce) only when new cells are needed.
Sometimes cells will divide for no reason, creating a mass of tissue called a tumor.
Tumors can be benign (not cancerous) or malignant (cancerous).
In breast cancer, as well as in some other cancers, a tissue cell becomes abnormal and reproduces without control or order, forming a malignant tumor. Cancer cells
can break off from the tumor, travel to other parts of the body, and form new tumors.
This
process is called metastasis. Metastasis is a late stage of cancer.
Am I at risk for developing breast cancer?
If you are a woman, you are at risk. (Men can also develop breast cancer, but this
is rare.) You may be more likely to develop breast cancer if you have one or more risk
factors, but risk
factors do not cause breast cancer. However, not having a risk factor does not mean that you will
not get breast cancer.
In many cases, it's not known why a woman develops breast cancer. In fact, 70 percent of
all women with breast cancer have no known risk factor.
What are the risk factors of breast cancer?
The greatest risk factor for breast cancer is heredity
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