About Breast Health
1 in 15 women are prone to Breast Cancer during a lifetime.
Breast cancer is getting more common especially in the 45-80 year age group. Compared with the median age of 62 in the United States and that of 60 in Australia, the median age of diagnosis in Hong Kong is 56, which shows that the patients are relatively young. According to the recent data*, the mortality rate of breasts cancer is 12.5% of all cancers in 2018, which is not neglectable.
*Source: Hong Kong Cancer Registry, Hospital Authority & Hong Kong Well Women Centre
Discovery at late-stage causes cancer a fatal disease. According to China Cancer Registry Annual Report, only 5.2% of patients were diagnosed with breast cancer through regular physical examination and early screening, while 82.1% of patients were diagnosed when they took the initiative to seek medical attention as they were with obvious symptoms. In this case, most of them were in the middle or late stage.
With the advancement of treatment methods, the five-year survival rate for early-stage cancer can be as high as 80-90%, however the early detection rate is only 20-30% on average. The main reasons are (1) early stage (below 5mm) symptoms are not obvious (2) ultrasound and X-ray examination are not sensitive (3) malignant tumors above 5mm grow and metastasize rapidly.
Breast Cancer Staging and the five-year survival rate
Source: Hong Kong Cancer Fund & Breastcancer.org
Stage 0
There is no evidence of cancer cells or non-cancerous abnormal cells breaking out of the part of the breast in which they started, or getting through to or invading neighboring normal tissue.
Five-year survival rate
Over 99.3%
Stage I
The tumor measures up to 2 cm and the cancer has not spread outside the breast; no lymph nodes are involved.
Five-year survival rate
99.3%
Stage II
The tumor is larger than 2 cm but no larger than 5 cm; cancer has spread to 1 to 3 axillary lymph nodes or to lymph nodes near the breastbone
Five-year survival rate
94.6%
Stage III
the tumor is larger than 5 cm; small groups of breast cancer cells (0.2–2 mm) are found in the lymph nodes
Five-year survival rate
76.2%
Stage IV
Invasive breast cancer that has spread beyond the breast and nearby lymph nodes to other organs of the body, such as the lungs, distant lymph nodes, skin, bones, liver, or brain.
Five-year survival rate
29.8%
