| Summary: | The following needs assessment provides a summary of the current information available regarding the epidemiology of breast cancer regionally, nationally and internationally. Its purpose is to provide the context for the NICE guidelines on early and locally advanced and advanced breast cancer, presenting an overview of the size of the problem and disease burden, and assessing whether variation in epidemiology or service utilisation exists. This full report covers both early and advanced breast cancer. Although the disease pathology is the same in both cases, the issues for the individual, the NHS and society differ markedly. For early breast cancer the main issues are the epidemiology of breast cancer and the treatment options. For those with advanced breast cancer, cancer with metastases also known as secondary breast cancer, the focus is on improving the quality of life by palliation of symptoms and managing the longer term side effects of treatment. The process of producing this document has highlighted the lack of routine data available to assess the burden of advanced breast cancer on individuals, society and the NHS.
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