The organs and tissues of the body are made up of tiny building blocks called cells. Cancer is a disease of these cells. It is important to realise that cancer is not just one disease with a single cause and a single type of treatment. There are more than 200 different kinds of cancer, each with its own name and treatment.

A cancer that starts in the breast is known as a primary breast cancer.

Treatment for breast cancer will get rid of the cancer for many women and the cancer may not come back, so the cancer is cured.

Local recurrence

In some women, treatment for breast cancer does not remove all the cancer cells. These cells may then grow in the breast or scars – sometimes many years later. This is known as local recurrence. The cancer cells may grow into a lump in the skin of the breast over where the cancer was originally removed, or in the operation scar. Sometimes the breast cancer may re-grow in the breast tissue left after a lumpectomy.