Changing Lives
New Breast Cancer Therapy is a “Win for Society”
Judy Perkin’s story
Source: PBS
Nearly 1.7 million women globally were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, amounting to 25% of all cancers in women. Breasts—life-giving symbols of fertility—are also potential hosts to the fifth deadliest cancer worldwide.
The survival rate for metastatic breast cancer, which happens when the cancer has spread elsewhere in the body, is only 22%.
But this week, scientists have announced two big findings that could dramatically change how breast cancer is treated. Both underscore the increasing need for individualized approaches to cancer, a complex illness that manifests itself in different ways depending on the person.