Special Session 3: Breast Cancer in Young Women—Biology, Treatment, and Ethics

V. F. Borges; University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO.

The incidence of young onset breast cancer has been increasing for the past two decades. Recent data has highlighted the faster pace of a 1.4%/year increase in diagnoses in comparison to the overall 1%/year for the incidence of postmenopausal breast cancer in the US. Young onset breast cancer presents with different proportions of who is affected among people age 45 and under when compared to those over 50 at diagnosis. Also, the frequency of the different subtypes of breast cancer is skewed towards the more biologically aggressive subtypes among younger onset cases. Women diagnosed with breast cancer age 45 and under are in their reproductive years and there is an interaction between pregnancy and parity with breast cancer risk, presentation, and disease outcomes. This lecture will review the knowns and unknowns about this concerning trend of increasing breast cancer among people 45 and under. The epidemiology of who is most affected, and what informs the increased risk for breast cancer recurrence and mortality in young onset breast cancer will be covered. Lastly, the options for future research and the importance of focusing on the young-onset breast cancer population will be discussed.