The mortality rate for breast cancer has fallen dramatically. The latest research offers hope for further improvements, not least through the introduction of highly sensitive blood tests and the innovative use of new and existing treatments.
More than 130,000 UK breast cancer deaths have been avoided over the past 30 years, according to the latest Cancer Research UK analysis, calculated as the difference between observed mortality and number of deaths expected each year if the mortality rate had remained at its 1989 level until 2017.This analysis was based on the method set out in Siegel et al.1 Breast cancer deaths in the UK hit a record high in 1989, when around 15,600 women lost their lives to the disease – but, due to research developing new tests and better treatments, the death rate for women has since fallen by 44%.
This considerable drop is due to major advances in diagnosis and treatment. In the last three decades, there have been improvements in surgical techniques and use of radiotherapy, new drugs being made available, and the impact of the national breast screening programme. Radiotherapy has been refined to make it a less intense but equally effective treatment, and once-revolutionary breast conserving surgery is now routine for early breast cancer, sparing many women the physical and emotional challenges that come with a mastectomy.
New drugs such as Herceptin have been given to breast cancer patients who are HER2-positive since 2006, and the innovative use of existing drugs like tamoxifen, which was developed as a contraceptive but repurposed to treat breast cancer, and is now offered as a potential preventative therapy for those most at risk.
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