Cancer of the Breast: An Overview

Breast cancer (BC) is a major public health problem for women throughout the world. Breast cancer represents the second most common cancer in the world and the most frequent cancer among women, with 1.67 million new cases diagnosed in 2012 according to GLOBOCAN data. Breast cancer alone represents 25 % of all cancer cases and 15 % of all cancer deaths among women (521,900 in 2012). More developed countries account for about one-half of all BC cases and 38 % of deaths [1, 2].