Older women may not be receiving the same treatments as younger women when it comes to breast
cancer.
According to research conducted by Scottish breast cancer charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, women over 80 who are being treated for the illness are 40 times less likely to receive surgery for the disease than younger patients.
Of those who do receive surgery, many are "significantly less likely" to have a breast-conserving procedure.
However, survival rates for the illness do appear to be improving and figures from the Breast Cancer Campaign suggest that 80 per cent of women in the UK who are diagnosed with the disease today will still be alive in five years time.
Despite this, the cancer remains one of the most common forms of the disease and accounts for nearly one in three of all cancers occurring in women.
This increase in survival rates is thought to be largely due to an improving awareness of the risks involved with the disease.
