Your pathology report may say that the breast cancer cells tested negative for estrogen receptors (ER-), progesterone receptors (PR-), and HER2, also called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2-). Testing negative for all three receptors means you have “triple-negative breast cancer.”
Without these receptors, the cancer’s growth is not likely to be fueled by estrogen or progesterone, or by growth signals coming from the HER2 protein. Therefore, triple-negative breast cancer does not respond to hormonal therapy (such as tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors) or therapies that target HER2 receptors, such as Herceptin (chemical name: trastuzumab). However, other medicines can be used to treat triple-negative breast cancer.
About 10-20% of breast cancers — more than one out of every 10 — are found to be triple-negative. Researchers are very interested in finding new medications that can treat this kind of breast cancer. Early studies are trying to find out whether certain medications can interfere with the processes that cause triple-negative breast cancer to grow. In this section, you can learn about:
http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/diagnosis/trip_neg/
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Are Hormone Receptors Present?
Receptors for the female hormones estrogen and progesterone are another key personality feature of breast cancer. You can read about whether these receptors are present in your pathology report. These receptors are the eyes and ears of the breast cells, getting messages sent by the hormones and figuring out what to do with these messages. The hormones will tell the receptors to stimulate or "turn on" breast cell growth. Estrogen and progesterone can increase both normal and abnormal breast cell growth.
Your doctor will order a hormone receptors assay, a test to see if the cancer is sensitive to estrogen and progesterone. If a tumor is estrogen-receptor positive (ER-positive), it is more likely to grow in a high-estrogen environment. ER-negative tumors are usually not affected by the levels of estrogen and progesterone in your body. This is one time when hearing the word "positive" may really mean something good (so often, a "positive" test result really means that something not so good was found).
ER-positive cancers are more likely to respond to anti-estrogen therapies. If you have an ER-positive cancer, you may respond well to tamoxifen, a drug that works by blocking the estrogen receptors on the breast tissue cells and slowing their estrogen-fuelled growth. A study suggests that Herceptin (chemical name: trastuzumab) may be beneficial regardless of your ER/PR status.
More information on tamoxifen.
If you've gone through menopause, you may think that you are no longer at risk for estrogen-fuelled cancer growth. That's not true. While your ovaries are no longer producing estrogen after menopause, your adrenal glands produce another hormone that is converted into estrogen by the body. That estrogen can still stimulate tumor growth. So estrogen is an important consideration even for women who have stopped menstruating.
http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/diagnosis/horm_receptors.jsp
Your doctor will order a hormone receptors assay, a test to see if the cancer is sensitive to estrogen and progesterone. If a tumor is estrogen-receptor positive (ER-positive), it is more likely to grow in a high-estrogen environment. ER-negative tumors are usually not affected by the levels of estrogen and progesterone in your body. This is one time when hearing the word "positive" may really mean something good (so often, a "positive" test result really means that something not so good was found).
ER-positive cancers are more likely to respond to anti-estrogen therapies. If you have an ER-positive cancer, you may respond well to tamoxifen, a drug that works by blocking the estrogen receptors on the breast tissue cells and slowing their estrogen-fuelled growth. A study suggests that Herceptin (chemical name: trastuzumab) may be beneficial regardless of your ER/PR status.
More information on tamoxifen.
If you've gone through menopause, you may think that you are no longer at risk for estrogen-fuelled cancer growth. That's not true. While your ovaries are no longer producing estrogen after menopause, your adrenal glands produce another hormone that is converted into estrogen by the body. That estrogen can still stimulate tumor growth. So estrogen is an important consideration even for women who have stopped menstruating.
http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/diagnosis/horm_receptors.jsp
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Lymph Node Involvement
Some breast cancers spread to the lymph nodes under a woman's arm. When the lymph nodes are involved in the cancer, they are called "positive." When lymph nodes are free or "clear" of cancer, they are called "negative." Your doctors will examine samples from your lymph nodes under a microscope to determine whether any cancer cells have spread there.
In large medical studies, there seems to be a connection between the number of lymph nodes involved and how aggressive a cancer's personality will be. Knowing how many of your lymph nodes are affected by cancer will help you and your doctor find the appropriate treatment to fight the cancer. Read more about options for lymph node surgery.
Doctors think in terms of three types of lymph node involvement when they look at an individual node:
Minimal (or microscopic) lymph node involvement: Only a small number of cancer cells can be found in the lymph nodes.
Significant (or macroscopic) involvement: A particular lymph node or group of nodes has become involved with the cancer. These can often felt by hand or seen without a microscope.
Extra-capsular extension: A breast cancer tumor takes over a whole lymph node and spills beyond the wall of the lymph node into the surrounding fat.
In most cases, the more extensive the lymph node involvement, the more aggressive the cancer. But the extent of disease within a particular lymph node is less important than the total number of lymph nodes affected. The more lymph nodes that are involved, the more threatening the cancer may be.
http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/diagnosis/lymph_nodes.jsp
In large medical studies, there seems to be a connection between the number of lymph nodes involved and how aggressive a cancer's personality will be. Knowing how many of your lymph nodes are affected by cancer will help you and your doctor find the appropriate treatment to fight the cancer. Read more about options for lymph node surgery.
Doctors think in terms of three types of lymph node involvement when they look at an individual node:
Minimal (or microscopic) lymph node involvement: Only a small number of cancer cells can be found in the lymph nodes.
Significant (or macroscopic) involvement: A particular lymph node or group of nodes has become involved with the cancer. These can often felt by hand or seen without a microscope.
Extra-capsular extension: A breast cancer tumor takes over a whole lymph node and spills beyond the wall of the lymph node into the surrounding fat.
In most cases, the more extensive the lymph node involvement, the more aggressive the cancer. But the extent of disease within a particular lymph node is less important than the total number of lymph nodes affected. The more lymph nodes that are involved, the more threatening the cancer may be.
http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/diagnosis/lymph_nodes.jsp
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
understanding the risks in breast cancer
All women are at risk for getting breast cancer. As you get older, your risk increases. Assuming you live to age 90, your risk of getting breast cancer over your lifetime is about 14%. That might sound scary, because it means that an average of about one out of every seven women will get breast cancer over a 90-year life span.
You can also look at it another way: A 14% risk means there's an 86% chance that you WON'T get breast cancer.
How much do risk factors and preventive factors change your risk?
Knowing what factors can increase or decrease your risk for breast cancer is important. But you probably want to know just HOW MUCH those factors change your risk.
If you hear that a certain treatment can reduce your risk by 40%, what does that mean?
To understand what the numbers mean about YOUR risk for breast cancer, the key terms to know are relative risk and absolute risk.
Relative risk is the number that tells you how much something you do, such as taking a pill, can change your risk, compared to your risk without taking that pill. Relative risk can be expressed in percentages and in "hazard ratios." If you do nothing new, your hazard ratio is 1.0—this means that your risk doesn't change. If you do something and your risk decreases by half, or goes down to 0.5, then you are half as likely to have the risk. But if your risk goes up, from 1.0 to 1.88, then you are 88% more likely to encounter the risk. If your risk goes up to 3.0, then you have a threefold (300%) increased risk of having the problem.
Absolute risk is the size of your own risk. Absolute risk reduction is the number of percentage points by which your own risk changes if you do something, like taking a pill. The size of your absolute risk reduction depends on what your risk is to begin with.
Example of risk going up for a woman with no history of breast cancer
Smoking is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer as well as other diseases.
After lumpectomy with clear margins, your risk of the breast cancer coming back in the same breast is about 30%. But if you choose to have radiation therapy after your lumpectomy, you can reduce your risk of the cancer coming back by two-thirds or 66%. This is the relative risk decrease.
Knowing how much your breast cancer risk changes with lifestyle changes and treatment options can help you and your doctor make the best decisions for YOU.
source: http://www.breastcancer.org/risk/understanding.jsp
You can also look at it another way: A 14% risk means there's an 86% chance that you WON'T get breast cancer.
How much do risk factors and preventive factors change your risk?
Knowing what factors can increase or decrease your risk for breast cancer is important. But you probably want to know just HOW MUCH those factors change your risk.
If you hear that a certain treatment can reduce your risk by 40%, what does that mean?
To understand what the numbers mean about YOUR risk for breast cancer, the key terms to know are relative risk and absolute risk.
Relative risk is the number that tells you how much something you do, such as taking a pill, can change your risk, compared to your risk without taking that pill. Relative risk can be expressed in percentages and in "hazard ratios." If you do nothing new, your hazard ratio is 1.0—this means that your risk doesn't change. If you do something and your risk decreases by half, or goes down to 0.5, then you are half as likely to have the risk. But if your risk goes up, from 1.0 to 1.88, then you are 88% more likely to encounter the risk. If your risk goes up to 3.0, then you have a threefold (300%) increased risk of having the problem.
Absolute risk is the size of your own risk. Absolute risk reduction is the number of percentage points by which your own risk changes if you do something, like taking a pill. The size of your absolute risk reduction depends on what your risk is to begin with.
Example of risk going up for a woman with no history of breast cancer
Smoking is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer as well as other diseases.
After lumpectomy with clear margins, your risk of the breast cancer coming back in the same breast is about 30%. But if you choose to have radiation therapy after your lumpectomy, you can reduce your risk of the cancer coming back by two-thirds or 66%. This is the relative risk decrease.
Knowing how much your breast cancer risk changes with lifestyle changes and treatment options can help you and your doctor make the best decisions for YOU.
source: http://www.breastcancer.org/risk/understanding.jsp
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
