Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies in women worldwide. It is very important for patients to know the classification and prognosis of breast cancer, because it will directly affect the treatment decision and the expected treatment effect. This article will introduce the classification and prognostic factors of breast cancer in detail to help patients and their families better understand the disease.
1. Classification
of breast cancer
Breast cancer can be classified according to different criteria, including histological classification, molecular classification and so on.
1.1 Histological typing
According to histological features, breast cancer can be divided into non-invasive cancer, early invasive cancer and invasive cancer. Invasive cancer is divided into invasive special type cancer and invasive non-special type cancer. The first two types belong to the early stage and have a good prognosis, while the invasive non-special type of cancer has a low differentiation and a poor prognosis, accounting for 70% -80% of breast cancer.
1.2
Molecular typing
Molecular typing classifies breast cancer into four major types based on the tumor’s gene expression pattern: Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2 positive, and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). This classification method is of great significance for the selection of clinical treatment methods.
2. Prognostic factors
of breast cancer The prognosis of
breast cancer is related to many factors, including tumor stage, lymph node metastasis, patient age, race, tumor size, tumor grade and hormone receptor status.
2.1
Tumor Staging
Tumor staging is one of the important prognostic factors. According to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registry of the National Cancer Institute, the 5-year survival rates for different stages are as follows:
-Local (confined to the primary lesion): 99.0%
-Regional (confined to regional lymph nodes): 85.8%
-Distant (metastasis): 29.0%
-Unknown: 57.8%.
2.2 Lymph node metastasis
Lymph node metastasis was associated with disease-free survival and overall survival better than other prognostic factors. Both the number and location of lymph node metastases are important prognostic factors.
2.3
Patient characteristics
Younger: Younger women between the ages of 20 and 30 have a worse prognosis than middle-aged women.
Race: Non-Hispanic black women have a higher breast cancer mortality rate than non-Hispanic white women.
Large
primary tumor: Large tumor lymph nodes are more likely to be positive, but large tumor is a risk factor independent of lymph node status.
High-grade tumors: Poorly differentiated tumors have a poor prognosis.
Hormone receptor status: Tumors with positive estrogen and progesterone receptors have a better prognosis and endocrine therapy is more effective.
3. Prognosis and treatment
The prognosis of
breast cancer is not only related to the above factors, but also closely related to the effectiveness of treatment. With the development of medical technology, the treatment of breast cancer has formed a multidisciplinary comprehensive diagnosis and treatment model including surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy and endocrine therapy.
