"Breast Cancer (BC) is a malignant tumor that originates from
healthy mammary gland cells. The most common type of BC is a
carcinoma coming from the glandular tissues. BC is most frequent
among women aged between 50 and 70. It affects one in eight
women on average and is the most common type of cancer among
women. About one million new cases of BC are diagnosed each
year worldwide, representing about a third of new cases of all female
cancers in industrialized countries and 15% of new cases in developing
countries. With the improvement of treatments, the survival rate of
women diagnosed with BC has increased by 2% a year during the last
twenty years . However, despite this improvement, the mortality due
to BC remains significant among women with about 20 women over
100000 dying from this disease each year worldwide. The mortality
rate of BC depends on its stage. While BC of stages I (localized tumors
of less than 2 cm) and II (tumors of 2 to 5 cm without nodes) can be
cured relatively simply using surgery resulting in a mortality rate of less
than 50%, those of grades III (infiltrating tumors without metastases)
and IV (presence of metastases) are much harder to treat, usually
require heavy treatments often involving a combination of surgery,
chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and result in a mortality rate of more
than 50% . There are essentially three different ways to decrease
the mortality rate of BC. Firstly, BC arises because of several risks
factors, such as aging, disease (hyperplasia), a diet with a high intake of
saturated fat, overweight, excessive alcohol consumption, exposure to
ionizing radiation, the consumption of oral contraceptives, hormone
replacement therapy .(Alphandéry E (2013) Efficacy of Thermotherapy to Treat Breast Cancer: A Review. J Womenââ¬â¢s Health Care)"
Last date updated on September, 2024