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Breast cancer

What is breast cancer?

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK. Cancer cells are abnormal cells that grow and multiply when they should not, forming lumps or tumours.

Most women diagnosed with breast cancer are over the age of 50, but younger women can also get breast cancer. About 1 in 7 women are diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime. If you are a transgender woman, long term hormone therapy can increase your risk of developing breast cancer. There is a good chance of successful treatment if breast cancer is detected early. For this reason, it is vital that women check their breast regularly, always have any changes checked by a GP and attend routine breast screening appointments.

If are registered with a GP as female you will be routinely invited for breast screening through the NHS breast screening programme. If you are registered with a GP as male you will not be invited for breast screening. 

Information about the NHS breast screening programme can be found here:

Additional information about breast cancer can be found here:

In rare cases, men can also be diagnosed with breast cancer. For this reason, it is vital that any changes are checked by a GP.

If you are a transgender man or non-binary person registered with a GP as female, you will be routinely invited for breast screening through the NHS breast screening programme. If you are registered as male you will not be invited for breast screening.

There are different types of breast cancer including non-invasive breast cancer (this does not have the ability to spread) and invasive breast cancer (this type of breast cancer spreads into the surrounding breast tissue and can spread to other parts of the body).

Breast cancer that is in the breast and/or the lymph nodes in the armpit is called primary breast cancer.

Recurrent breast cancer is breast cancer that has returned after treatment:

Secondary or metastatic breast cancer is breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body:

What to expect when you are referred to breast clinic and breast cancer is diagnosed

A member of our breast surgery team will see you in the clinic. This may include a consultant, senior surgeon, or a training grade surgeon or doctor, or advanced nurse practitioner. They will talk to you about your symptoms and perform a breast and an underarm examination. A chaperone will be available. You will have a mammogram (if you are over 40 years old and you have not had one within the last year), an ultrasound and sometimes a needle biopsy may be advised.

Alternatively, you may be seen by a breast surgeon in a breast screening assessment results clinic following further investigations of an abnormality detected on mammogram through the NHS breast screening programme.

If you have a biopsy, these results will be discussed at the breast multidisciplinary team (MDT) meeting where the team members review results and recommend further investigations or a treatment plan.

Approximately two weeks after any investigations you will have a clinic to discuss your results. A clinical examination will be undertaken at this visit if you were not examined at the initial appointment, or it may be repeated to assess suitability for recommended treatments.

Recommended treatments will be discussed in detail with you. A breast cancer clinical nurse specialist will be available for additional information and support if you are diagnosed with a breast cancer.

If surgery is recommended, you will have a pre-assessment appointment prior to the procedure. Some patients are advised to have chemotherapy (neo-adjuvant chemotherapy) before surgery.

Surgical results are discussed at the breast MDT meeting where the team members review results and recommend further treatment if required.

Clinic appointment for the results from surgery are booked approximately two weeks after surgery. Wound checks may be needed after one week if breast reconstruction has been undertaken. Pathology (tissue analysis) results usually take a minimum of two weeks to be available.

The additional treatments may be recommended and can include chemotherapy, radiotherapy and/or hormone therapy.

Ongoing surveillance imaging, clinic follow up or patient initiated follow up (PIFU) will be discussed with you in clinic.

You can find out about the breast cancer treatments we offer on our treatment pages here.