Breast cancer trials 'failing to save younger patients'

The study, funded by Cancer Research UK and the Wessex Cancer Trust, analysed nearly 3,000 women under 40 in the UK with diagnosed breast cancer. It found a rapid rise in relapse after five years in younger patients with a certain type of the cancer. This contrasts with what normally happens with the disease.

The data, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, showed that survival five years after diagnosis was 85%. By the eight-year mark it was 68%.Breast cancer is mostly diagnosed in post-menopausal women, although those with a diagnosis under 40 represent fewer than 5% of all breast cancers treated in the UK.