Genomics in the Diagnosis and Management of Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death among females. As the most common cancer diagnosis in women, one out of every six American women will confront breast cancer during her lifetime. The disease is more common in industrialized Northern America and Europe, and is rising in developed Asia. The molecular characteristics of breast tumors that have an accepted predictive and prognostic impact in breast cancer include hormonal status and HER2. The importance of molecular markers is reinforced by the finding that amplification of HER2 in breast tumors has negative impact on survival and relapse. As more women have historically sought screening, incidence has increased due to broader detection, with the largest component of this increase being early Stage I cancers. Risk factors include gender, age, race, and family history. Mortality has decreased as screening mammography has become common practice. It is a surveillance measure for clinically occult disease, consisting of two views of each breast for asymptomatic women. The breast imaging reporting and data system (BI-RADS) is a standardized criterion aiding clinical decisions based on identified masses, their morphology and calcifications, their size, number, and morphology. © 2010 Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
