Studies show that the number of U.S. women aged 25 to 39 diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer increased 3.6% per year from 2000 to 2009, and that breast cancer in younger women is often more aggressive, with women aged 25 to 39 being 40% more likely to die than postmenopausal women. Some doctors suspect that breast cancer in younger and older women is a different disease and may be caused by different risk factors.
Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies in women, and the risk increases after puberty, but usually occurs in women 30 years of age and older. However, according to foreign media reports, the youngest person found with breast cancer is actually only 3 years old. The Canadian girl was diagnosed as the world’s youngest person with breast cancer.
Case 1
Alesha: Age of diagnosis: 3 years old
“I didn’t think a child this young could get breast cancer”
The girl, Alesha, reportedly lives in Toronto, Canada, and was 2 years old in 2008 when her mother found a pea-sized lump on her left breast while giving her a bath. The hospital initially diagnosed it as a blocked lymph gland, so Alesha was sent home. At age 3, Alesha was in pain and couldn’t sleep because of the lump, so her family brought her back to the hospital. After detailed tests, doctors diagnosed her with breast cancer. Melanie, the mother, was incredulous, “I didn’t think a child as young as her could get breast cancer!” .
Alesha then had a mastectomy immediately, and was released from the hospital three days later. The doctor said that the cure is unlikely to return, although Alesha will need regular reviews over the next few years and will need breast reconstruction surgery as a teenager.
Case 2
Hannah Age at diagnosis: 10 years old
Discovered a lump in her breast. Was too embarrassed to tell her mom
Before Alesha, the world’s youngest person with breast cancer was Hannah, a 10-year-old girl from California. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. Like Alesha’s mother, Hannah’s mother didn’t believe her ears when she learned of the diagnosis, not realizing that a 10-year-old girl could have breast cancer. After her mastectomy, Hannah was lucky enough to survive as well. In an interview after the surgery, Hannah warned all children to tell their parents immediately if there was anything wrong with their bodies. The reason for this is that Hannah was hesitant to tell her mother when she found a lump in her breast because she felt “embarrassed”. When she found out she had cancer, her first question was, “Am I going to die?” “I just wanted to be a normal kid. I wanted to go to school, play sports and hang out with my friends,” Hannah said. Hannah said. (Integrated by Xinhua Chongqing Evening News)
Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies in women, but the disease, once widely thought to predispose women over the age of 40, has tended to spread to younger women. Although there has been progress in the overall trend of fighting cancer, more and more young women are being diagnosed with breast cancer.
The number of American women aged 25 to 39 diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer increased at an annual rate of 3.6% from 2000 to 2009, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Metastatic breast cancer means that the cancer has metastasized to other organs by the time it is detected.
This alarming trend began in the 1970s, but the fastest growth has occurred in the last decade. The study, which did not identify a reason for the increase in breast cancer rates, said Rebecca Johansson, a pediatric and adolescent oncologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital, the study’s author, “The incidence of the disease has increased dramatically, and it’s accelerating over time, and the age of onset is aimed at younger women.”
Johansson believes there is no need for younger women to panic because the most common age of onset of breast cancer is still 40 and older. in 1976, only 250 women in that age range were diagnosed with advanced breast cancer, and that number rose to 850 by 2009. The largest increase was among women aged 25 to 34, and the number of women aged 40 to 54 who developed metastatic breast cancer also rose slightly, but incidence rates did not increase among the older age group.