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Unique Aspects of Caring for Young Breast Cancer Patients

  • Breast Cancer (B Overmoyer, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in young women in the USA. Although breast cancer mortality has decreased overall, survival rates in young women remain lower than those in older women. Young women with breast cancer comprise a special population due to the aggressive biology of their tumors as well as their unique psychosocial concerns. Although general treatment principles are similar regardless of age, recent developments from research focused on younger women have provided new insights to guide treatment of this special population. This article will focus on these new developments in areas including endocrine therapy and fertility preservation as well as the unique treatment-related sequelae and psychosocial concerns among young women with breast cancer face.

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Conflict of Interest

Raina M. Ferzoco and Kathryn J. Ruddy declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Mayo Clinic, 200 First St. SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA

    Raina M. Ferzoco & Kathryn J. Ruddy

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  1. Raina M. Ferzoco
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  2. Kathryn J. Ruddy
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Correspondence to Raina M. Ferzoco.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Breast Cancer

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Ferzoco, R.M., Ruddy, K.J. Unique Aspects of Caring for Young Breast Cancer Patients. Curr Oncol Rep 17, 1 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-014-0425-x

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