According to a BMJ analysis, thanks to significant advancements in medical care over the past few years, the majority of women with early breast cancer now survive the disease.
Their chance of passing away within five years of diagnosis is thought to be less than three percent, compared to 14 percent in the 1990s.
Although many women find this to be "reassuring," Cancer Research UK warns that in order to keep up with demand, more highly qualified personnel are required.
A staffing strategy for the NHS in England has been repeatedly postponed.
This workforce strategy is due soon, according to government ministers.
After noticing a swelling under one arm, Mairead MacKenzie, 69, of Surrey, received a breast cancer diagnosis in 2002.
She recalls being "very scared" because she was unsure of her prognosis for survival.
However, she claims, "I knew it had to be bad.
After visiting her doctor, Mairead immediately began chemotherapy, a treatment that uses drugs to kill cancer cells.
After this, a mastectomy (removal of one breast) was performed, followed by breast reconstruction, radiotherapy, and seven years of tamoxifen use to lessen the likelihood of the cancer returning.
She claims that it appeared as though they were throwing the book at her.
Mairead is now involved in a patient-advocate group that helps scientists understand patients' experiences.
She is grateful for the care she received - and the gardening, walking and travelling she has been able to do in the intervening years.
"Good, clear communication about prognosis can make a vast difference to a patient's quality of life, and how they can cope with things," Mairead says. .
The BMJ analysis tracked more than half a million women with early, invasive breast cancer - mostly stage one and two - diagnosed in the 1990s, 2000s and between 2010 and 2015.
It found the prognosis for nearly all women "has improved substantially since the 1990s", with most becoming long-term cancer survivors.
And based on those trends, the researchers behind the Oxford University-led study say women diagnosed today also have a much lower risk.
"That's good news - and reassuring for clinicians and patients," oncologist and lead researcher Prof Carolyn Taylor says.
Surgery cures most breast cancer - but if some disease remains, chemo-, radio- and endocrine therapy can reduce the long-term risk of dying.
Prof Taylor points to advances in treatment, including:.
- more targeted therapies for early breast cancer, such as Herceptin.
- new treatments, such as hormonal therapies.
- more precise and effective radiotherapy .
But prognosis will also depend on someone's age, type of breast cancer and underlying health.
Prof Taylor says more women are being screened for the cancer than 20 years ago and there is greater awareness of the symptoms.
In time, research will look at the survival rates of patients diagnosed during the Covid pandemic - but there is no data on this yet.
Cancer Research UK evidence and implementation director Naser Turabi says Covid was "very disruptive" but "we were already on a worsening trend before the pandemic".
The difference now is "we are seeing diagnostic and treatment delays" and "highly fragile services".
"We need more highly trained staff, such as radiologists and oncologists, to cope with increased demand and an ageing population," Mr Turabi adds.
It is a view recently echoed by radiologists who say the NHS is struggling to provide safe and effective care for all cancer patients.
In England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, cancer treatment should start within 62 days of an urgent referral by a GP.
But only 61 percent of patients in England are currently starting treatment in that time - against a target of 85 percent - and in Northern Ireland, just 37 percent.
The charity Breast Cancer Now says significant progress has been made on breast cancer research over the decades but it is "not a done deal".
Chief executive Baroness Morgan says: "11,500 people a year in the UK die from the disease - and despite the tireless work of NHS staff, we know many women are waiting far too long for a diagnosis and are experiencing anxious delays to their treatment.
"Without urgent action from governments across the UK to get breast cancer services back on track, we risk seeing these decades of progress unravelling. ".
