One experiment by University of Toronto cancer researcher Robert Kerbel mimicked treating early-stage breast cancer with Pfizer's kidney cancer drug Sutent for short periods of time and then stopping.

FORBES: Magazine Article

And now, the drug, in combination with the chemotherapy Taxol, allows patients with early-stage breast cancer an average of four months without their disease progressing.

FORBES: The Biggest Cancer Drug Ever?

Ninety percent of patients with early-stage breast cancer can be cured when treated only with radiation and surgery, but another 3% also require chemotherapy to stop the cancer from spreading elsewhere.

FORBES: Scanning For Cancer

In early-stage breast cancer Herceptin doubles a woman's chances of living cancer free.

FORBES: Magazine Article

In Denmark, only 30% of women with breast cancer were diagnosed at an early stage, compared with 42-45% elsewhere.

BBC: A mammography of a woman's breast

Since Ms. Emmerich was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer this past summer, her insurer -- one of the country's more than 200 state-regulated nonprofit "patient funds" -- has taken care of all of her doctor and chemotherapy bills.

WSJ: Germany Strains to Fund Health Care for All

Nanotechnology, and the emerging field of nanomedicine, is one such solution and promises to change how we detect early stage breast cancer.

FORBES: Breast Exams: Mammography Is Not The Only Game In Town