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A photograph of a doctor and patient facing each other in a medical room.
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A Fox Chase doctor sits at a table across from a patient, holding a paper in their hands and smiling.
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Important announcement concerning Temple Health and Keystone First. Our provider agreement with Keystone First, is scheduled to end on July 31st. Learn about your options to continue receiving care at Temple Health.
Simply being a woman is the main risk factor for developing breast cancer. Although women have many more breast cells than men, the main reason they develop breast cancer more often is because their breast cells are constantly exposed to the female hormones estrogen and progesterone, which promote cell growth. Men can develop breast cancer, but this disease is about 100 times more common among women than men.
Your risk of developing breast cancer increases as you age. About 2 out of 3 invasive breast cancers are found in women age 55 or older.
The chance of developing breast cancer increases if a close relative, either male or female, had breast cancer. About 20 to 30 percent of women with breast cancer have a family member with the disease.
Breast cancer is sometimes caused by inherited gene changes. The most common are in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes which cause a significantly increased risk for breast and ovarian cancer.
A woman with cancer in one breast is three to four times more likely to develop a new cancer in the other breast, or in another part of the same breast. This is different from a recurrence, or return of the first cancer.
About 80 percent of all breast changes that are biopsied, or tested, are found to be benign, or not cancerous. But, some of these benign breast conditions are linked to an increase in breast cancer risk.
Receiving radiation therapy to the chest between the ages of 10 and 30 can increase the risk of breast cancer. The risk of developing breast cancer appears to be highest if the radiation was given during adolescence, when the breasts are still developing.
Use of hormones after menopause called hormone replacement therapy may increase the risk for developing breast cancer.
A photograph of a doctor and patient facing each other in a medical room.
A Fox Chase doctor sits at a table across from a patient, holding a paper in their hands and smiling.