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Current status of AYA-generation breast cancer: trends worldwide and in Japan

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Abstract

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer worldwide among women. In Japan, the incidence of BC gradually increased. The recent number of adolescent and young adult (AYA)-BC patients is approximately 4,000–5,000 every year, accounting for 5% of all BC cases. BC in young people has been attracting attention since Japan's third basic plan to promote cancer control programs incorporated cancer control measures for pediatric (age ≤ 14 years) and adolescent and young adult (AYA)-generation (age 15–39 years) cancers in 2018. Attention is needed to detect AYA-BC because of the presence of dense breasts. AYA-BC patients are clinically characterized by larger tumor size, more lymph node metastases, advanced stages, and a higher rate of aggressive phenotypes, such as triple-negative or HER2-positive subtypes, and are strongly associated with family history and genetic germline alterations, including hereditary breast and ovarian cancers. Given that AYA-BC patients show a poorer prognosis than older BC patients, they often require intensive therapies, including surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and endocrine therapy. We must solve many survivorship-associated problems in AYA-BC patients, including fertility preservation, comorbidity after treatment, and long-term follow-up. Under these circumstances, national and local governments and various academic societies have started addressing these problems by formulating laws and guidelines, establishing medical systems, and offering financial support to conquer cancer and maintain a better quality of life. This review summarizes the current trends of AYA-BC worldwide and in Japan. Further Japan-specific data on AYA-BC are required to clarify its characteristics and improve prognosis and survivorship.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ms. Enya for her technical assistance.

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  1. Breast Surgery, Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, 501-1194, Japan

    Manabu Futamura

  2. Gastroenterological Surgery, Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, 501-1194, Japan

    Kazuhiro Yoshida

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Correspondence to Manabu Futamura.

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Futamura, M., Yoshida, K. Current status of AYA-generation breast cancer: trends worldwide and in Japan. Int J Clin Oncol 27, 16–24 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10147-021-02087-4

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