Risk reduction strategies: Surgical perspective

Breast cancer is estimated to affect over 200,000 women in the United States in 2012, accounting for up to 40,000 deaths [1]. Based on SEER database rates from 2006 to 2008, the cumulative lifetime risk of breast cancer for an average woman in the general US population is 12.29 %, with the greatest risk occurring in the sixth decade of life [1]. Although the majority of these breast cancers are sporadic, approximately 25 % of breast cancers are secondary to some inherited predisposition, commonly related to identifiable mutations in inherited genes such as BRCA1, BRCA2, CHEK2, and PTEN. Women born with these gene mutations are at a significantly higher risk of developing breast cancer over the general population, as well as other associated cancers, and do so typically at a younger age.