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Everything you wanted to know about breast cancer – and more

Breast cancer is a global disease

Breast cancer has long been considered a disease of the Western world, mainly of industrialized countries. Although incidence of breast cancer is still higher in this part of the world than in Asia, South-America, or Africa, breast cancer is becoming a global concern.

• A map of estimated incidence of breast cancer in Europe in 1990 and 2006
• An interactive map of breast cancer in Europe
• Time Magazine´s world map of breast cancer incidence

On-line resources on breast cancer

We have selected the following on-line resources for those of you interested in finding more about breast cancer. These links will lead you to what is known and what is new in breast cancer research around the world.

• The American Cancer Society
• The American Institute for Cancer Research
• Breastcancer.org
• Breast Cancer in Europe
• Breast cancer symptoms – from Caring.com – Helping you help your parents
• The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation
• The Cancer Associaton of South Africa
• Cancer Research UK
• Healthfinder- Your source for reliable health information
• Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation
• The Icelandic Cancer Association
• MedlinePlus Article on Breast Cancer
• The National Breast Cancer Foundation of Australia
• Envita.com – Being the only clinic of its kind, Envita provides alternative solutions to common illnesses all backed by science and approved by the FDA.

Test your knowledge about breast cancer

Other interesting facts about breast cancer

History of breast cancer

Breast cancer may be one of the oldest known forms of cancer tumors in humans. In approximately 3,500 year old writings of an Egyptian physician, tumors of the breast are described followed with a statement that this was an incurable disease. For centuries, physicians described similar cases in their practises, with the same sad conclusion.

When medical science gained a greater understanding of the circulatory system in the 17th century, the link was established between breast cancer and its distribution via the lymph nodes in the armpit. The French surgeon Jean Louis Petit (1674-1750) and later the Scottish surgeon Benjamin Bell (1749-1806) were the first to remove the lymph nodes, breast tissue, and underlying chest muscle. Their successful work was carried on by William Stewart Halsted who started performing mastectomies in 1882. He became known for his Halsted radical mastectomy, a surgical procedure that remained popular up to the 1970s.

Breast cancer portrayed by Rembrandt

“In 1967, an Italian surgeon touring Amsterdam’s Rijks museum stopped in front of Rembrandt’s painting Bathsheba at Her Bath, on loan from the Louvre, and noticed an asymmetry to Bathsheba’s left breast; it seemed distended, swollen near the armpit, discolored, and marked with a distinctive pitting. With a little research, the physician learned that Rembrandt’s model, his mistress Hendrickje Stoffels, later died after a long illness, and he conjectured in a celebrated article for an Italian medical journal that the cause of her death was almost certainly breast cancer”.
(From the book Bathsheba’s Breast: Women, Cancer, and History, by James S. Olson).

Mammary tumors in mammals other than humans

Did you know that dogs, as well as most other mammals, can develop breast cancer too? Breast cancer is a mammary tumor originating in the mammary gland, and can therefore develop in all mammals. It is common in older female dogs and cats that are not spayed, but also found in other animals. Interestingly, mammary tumors are extremely rare in cow, goat, sheep, and horse. Find out more about mammary tumors here.

This content was last reviewed on February 09, 2010.

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