Dear Reader,
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It is a month dedicated to education and early detection of the disease — including metastatic breast cancer — that affects 1 in 8 women. After lung cancer, it is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths of women in the U.S. Chances are that you or your family and friends already have been touched by breast cancer.
Why does breast cancer matter to women? Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the U.S. and worldwide, after some types of skin cancer. Rarely, breast cancer can occur in men, too. It is more common in white women, but some of the more aggressive types of breast cancer are seen in Black and Hispanic women. As such, outcomes vary among different races and ethnicities. In general, younger women — those younger than 40 years old — with breast cancer have worse outcomes than do older women.
Outcomes of breast cancer are partly related to how advanced the cancer is at diagnosis. This makes early detection a key part of improving outcomes. When breast cancer is detected early, treatment is highly successful. | 
