There are approximately 1,000,000 new cases of breast cancer in the world each year1). Unfortunately, as we increase our understanding of the biologic behavior of these tumors, the incidence of breast cancer continues to rise throughout the world.

There are currently over 2 million breast cancer survivors in the United States. This year, there will be an estimated 212,920 new cases of invasive breast cancer with the rate of invasive breast cancer increasing by 0.3% per year since 19872). According to the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results (SEER) from the 1998-2002 National Institutes of Health databases, there was an incidence of 501.8 cases of breast cancer per 100,000 women in the United States during this time period. The mortality rate was 103.8 per 100,000 women2). On a stage by stage basis, 55%