The first accounting of women with breast cancer in situ in the United States finds that in 2005 there were 610,171 survivors, but that by 2016 that number is expected to increase to more than 1 million.
Breast cancer in situ now accounts for 20 percent of newly diagnosed breast cancers. It is the early stage of the disease, when it is still confined to the layer of cells in the ducts or lobules of the breasts.
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers Brian L. Sprague and Amy Trentham-Dietz noted that while there were 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the United States in 2005, the number of breast cancer in situ survivors was unknown. Their research is reported in the Aug. 26 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.