Breast cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in American women, is the disease women fear most. Experts predict 178,000 women will develop breast cancer in the United States in 2007. Breast cancer can also occur in men, but it's far less common. For 2007, the predicted number of new breast cancers in men is 2,000.

Symptoms of Breast cancer:

• A spontaneous clear or bloody discharge from your nipple, often associated with a breast lump
• Any flattening or indentation of the skin over your breast
• Redness or pitting of the skin over your breast, like the skin of an orange
• Retraction or indentation of your nipple
• A change in the size or contours of your breast

Risk factors of Breast Cancer:
Age: Close to 80 percent of breast cancers occur in women older than age 50.
Family history: If you have a mother, sister or daughter with breast or ovarian cancer or both, or a male relative with breast cancer, you have a greater chance of also developing breast cancer
Genetic predisposition: Between 5 percent and 10 percent of breast cancers are inherited. Defects in one of several genes, especially BRCA1 or BRCA2, put you at greater risk of developing breast cancers
Radiation exposure: If you received radiation treatments to your chest as a child or young adult, you're more likely to develop breast cancer later in life.
Early onset of menstrual cycles: If you got your period at a young age, especially Late menopause: If you enter menopause after age 55, you're more likely to develop breast cancer.
Hormone therapy:nbsp;Treating menopausal symptoms with the hormone combination of estrogen and progesterone for four or more years increases your risk of breast cancer.
Birth control pills: Use of birth control pills is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer in premenopausal women
Smoking: Evidence is mixed on the relationship between smoking and breast cancer risk. Some studies show no link between cigarette smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke and breast cancer.

Treatment:
Surgery: Radical mastectomy is performed to remove the tumor part.
Lumpectomy: This operation saves as much of your breast as possible by removing only the lump plus a surrounding area of normal tissue.
Segmental mastectomy: Another breast-sparing operation, partial mastectomy involves removing the tumor as well as some of the breast tissue around the tumor.
Chemotherapy:Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. The size of the tumor, characteristics of the cancer cells, and extent of spread of the cancer help determine your need for chemotherapy.