Understanding Triple Negative Breast Cancer
One of the audience questions I frequently hear asked at conferences relates to treatment for Triple Negative Breast Cancer. As we know by now, breast cancer is not one form of cancer, but many different “subtypes” of cancer.These subtypes are generally diagnosed based upon the presence, or lack of, three “receptors” known to fuel most breast cancers: estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors and HER2.The case with triple negative is that none of these receptors are found. In other words, a triple negative breast cancer diagnosis means that the offending tumor is estrogen receptor-negative, progesterone receptor-negative and HER2-negative, thus giving rise to the name “triple negative breast cancer.” As my own cancer is ER-positive, I confess that my knowledge of triple negative breast cancer is more limited. However, I am indebted to A rural woman’s breast cancer journal for an excellent posting on the subject and a link to TNBC, a website dedicated to Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
Thanks for this interesting and educational post, plus link.
I’d be interested to hear your views on cancer reform under the leadership of Prof Tom Keane.
Are you in favour of the move to centralise cancer care in Ireland into centres of excellence?
I was amazed to learn that currently, Ireland is 18th out of 23 in terms of cancer outcomes, languishing near the bottom with Poland, the UK and Slovenia.
Improving the way cancer care is managed, will improve results for patients. I think the National Cancer Control Strategy will ultimately become Mary Harney’s legacy.
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Hi Steph, I am so glad you asked me this question and it has prompted me to write a piece on it, which I will post later today. It can be a very emotive subject and lead to very heated discussions. While I understand the concerns and feelings of local community groups who campaign against the closure of regional units, I am firmly of the belief that treatment in a specialist unit offers a woman the best chance of survival. International research has shown that diagnosis and treatment in specialised centres improve survival rates for women diagnosed with breast cancer by 25 to 30%. I believe we need to get this message out there and the kind of sensationalist headlines about closures we had last year has done women diagnosed with breast cancer a disservice. I realise that there are still plenty of objections to Professor Keane’s reforms but having studied the evidence, I believe this is the way forward.
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