What does hormone positive breast cancer mean? Hormone status of breast cancers includes: Estrogen receptor (ER) positive. The cells of this type of breast cancer have receptors that allow them to use the hormone estrogen to grow. Treatment with anti-estrogen hormone (endocrine) therapy can block the growth of the cancer cells.
What is the survival rate for hormone positive breast cancer?
5-year survival rates
| Stage at diagnosis |
Percentage living after 5 years |
| localized (hasn’t spread outside the breast) |
99 percent |
| regional (has spread to nearby tissue or lymph nodes) |
86 percent |
| distant (has spread to distant organs) |
28 percent |
| all stages combined |
90 percent |
Are most breast cancers hormone positive? Hormone Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer
About 80% of all breast cancers are “ER-positive.” That means the cancer cells grow in response to the hormone estrogen. About 65% of these are also “PR-positive.” They grow in response to another hormone, progesterone.
Is it better to have estrogen positive or negative breast cancer? The survival rate for breast cancers are excellent if the cancer is detected early, and in general HR positive cancers grow slower and have a better prognosis. Overall, breast cancers that are both HR positive and HER2 negative have the best outcomes.
What does hormone positive breast cancer mean? – Additional Questions
Is estrogen positive breast cancer aggressive?
The estrogen activation of ER in ER-positive breast cancers enhances their aggressiveness, while the activation of exogenously introduced ERs into aggressive ER-negative cells diminishes their aggressiveness.
What is the best treatment for estrogen positive breast cancer?
AIs, tamoxifen, and fulvestrant can be used to treat more advanced hormone-positive breast cancers, especially in post-menopausal women. They are often continued for as long as they are helpful. Pre-menopausal women might be offered tamoxifen alone or an AI in combination with an LHRH agonist for advanced disease.
Which type of breast cancer has the best prognosis?
Grade 1 has the best prognosis. Some breast cancers need your body’s natural hormones estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) to grow. These cancer cells have proteins on the outside of their walls called hormone receptors.
What is the best type of breast cancer to have?
Tubular ductal carcinoma is a rare diagnosis of IDC, comprising only 2% of breast cancer diagnoses. The name comes from how the cancer looks under the microscope — like hundreds of tiny tubes. Tubular breast cancer has an excellent prognosis.
What type breast cancer has the highest recurrence rate?
Research suggests that estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer is more likely to come back more than five years after diagnosis. In this study, the researchers looked at the risk of late breast cancer recurrence, meaning the breast cancer came back 10 or more years after diagnosis.
What is the deadliest form of breast cancer?
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is considered an aggressive cancer because it grows quickly, is more likely to have spread at the time it’s found, and is more likely to come back after treatment than other types of breast cancer.
What is the easiest breast cancer to treat?
Ductal carcinoma in situ or DCIS
The cancer cells have not spread through the walls of the ducts into the nearby breast tissue. Nearly all women with DCIS can be cured.
What stage of breast cancer requires a mastectomy?
A mastectomy may be a treatment option for many types of breast cancer, including: Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), or noninvasive breast cancer. Stages I and II (early-stage) breast cancer. Stage III (locally advanced) breast cancer — after chemotherapy.
Where does breast cancer spread first?
The lymph nodes under your arm, inside your breast, and near your collarbone are among the first places breast cancer spreads.
What are the signs that breast cancer has spread?
Symptoms if cancer has spread to the lungs
- a cough that doesn’t go away.
- shortness of breath.
- ongoing chest infections.
- weight loss.
- chest pain.
- coughing up blood.
- a build up of fluid between the chest wall and the lung (a pleural effusion)
Do you feel unwell with breast cancer?
Some general symptoms that breast cancer may have spread include: Feeling constantly tired. Constant nausea (feeling sick) Unexplained weight loss and loss of appetite.
Is breast cancer more common in left breast?
The left breast is 5 – 10% more likely to develop cancer than the right breast. The left side of the body is also roughly 5% more prone to melanoma (a type of skin cancer).
Is breast cancer caused by stress?
They have found no evidence that those who are more stressed are more likely to get cancer. Some people wonder whether stress causes breast cancer. But overall, the evidence for this has been poor. And a large study of over 100,000 women in the UK in 2016 showed no consistent evidence between stress and breast cancer.
Which is worse left or right breast cancer?
Breast cancer arising on the left side is biologically more aggressive and has worse outcomes compared to the right side [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-09-09.
Where is most breast cancer located?
Most breast cancers develop in the upper outer quadrant of the breast, closest to the armpit. This is because this area has a lot of glandular tissue.
What is the most common age to develop breast cancer?
Most breast cancers are found in women who are 50 years old or older. Some women will get breast cancer even without any other risk factors that they know of. Having a risk factor does not mean you will get the disease, and not all risk factors have the same effect.
How fast does breast cancer spread?
On average, breast cancers double in size every 180 days, or about every 6 months. Still, the rate of growth for any specific cancer will depend on many factors.
