Breast cancer is the most common cancer for women in England and Wales, with about 40,500 new cases diagnosed1, 2 and 10,900 deaths1, 2 recorded in England and Wales each year. In men breast cancer is rare, with about 260 cases diagnosed1, 2 and 68 deaths1, 2 in England and Wales each year. Of these new cases in women and men, a small proportion are diagnosed in the advanced stages, when the tumour has spread significantly within the breast or to other organs of the body. In addition, a considerable number of women who have been previously treated with curative.
