Futures of Breast Cancer in Iran

In the past 50 years and after the development of new drugs for diseases with high mortality rate such as cardiovascular disease, the occurrence rate of cancers was dramatically increased (1). Breast cancer is the second (in Iran Breast Cancer is the first) most common cause of death from cancer in women with 30-60 years old worldwide with diagnosing over 1.6 million cases annually (2). The most important risk factors of Breast Cancer include, mammographic density, age, gender and BRCA1 and BRCA2 carrier status (3). Unfortunately, in the last decade, the incidence rate of this cancer has increased in Iran with a high mortality rate and occurs in at least 10 years younger women by mean age ranging from 47.1 to 48.8 years in comparisonto developed countries (4). Overall estimated prevalence of Breast Cancer among Irainian women is 24 per 100000 (5, 6) and new cases of breast cancer in Tehran were reported 1603, 3946 and 4557 in 2000, 2003 and 2004 respectively. According to screening programs, the prevalence rate of breast cancer was reported as 28, 16.9, 12.6 and 7.6 per 100,000 in Golestan province, Kerman, Gilan and Ardebil respectively (5). In developed countries, a significant decreased in death rate from Breast Cancer were reported because of diagnosisat an earliertime, improvedsurgical and radiotherapytechniques, and enhancedsystemic therapies(7). According to various guidelines, population based mammography in asymptomatic women is offered for early identification of Breast Cancer (8) and lack of national program for screening of women for BreastCancer in Iran is the main cause of increasing clinical Breast Cancer detection and mortality of this type of cancer.