3 Things You Should Know About Triple Negative Breast Cancer

1-What is triple negative breast cancer?

Triple negative breast cancer; a term used to describe one type of breast cancer.  Breast cancers are evaluated by 3 components.  They are estrogen level, progesterone level, and presence of HER2. Triple negative simply means that all 3 levels are negative. This means that the tumor is not fed by estrogen, or progesterone, nor is the HER2 protein present.  For this reason, triple negative breast cancers tend to be more aggressive and are more likely to spread beyond the breast.  Therefore, they are more likely to have a recurrence.  Likewise, five year survival rate tend to be lower in triple negative breast cancer than other types.  Triple negative breast cancer represents 15-20% of all breast cancer cases.

2-Who is at risk?

Younger women aged 40-50 are more likely to be diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, as opposed to those over the age of 60.    Triple Negative Breast Cancer is 3 times more likely to occur in African American than Caucasians.

Triple Negative Breast Cancer

3-Treatment

Treatment options for triple negative breast cancer can vary.  Anti-hormonal medications that block estrogen, and progesterone are not used to treat triple negative breast cancer, since these hormones are not contributing to the growth of the tumor.  Triple negative breast cancer responds well to chemotherapy.  Surgically, most women with this type of cancer, will elect to have a bilateral mastectomy.  This means that though the cancer may be present in only one breast, women choose to have the healthy breast removed as well.  The goal is to decrease the chance of developing breast cancer in the healthy breast.

All things considered, it is easy to see why triple negative breast cancer can be challenging.  As a result of the prognosis, surgical intervention and treatment is typically more aggressive.

As with any information on breast cancer, it is always advised that you speak with your oncologist if you have questions or concerns.  There is a lot of information available, and it can become overwhelming very easily.  Though cancer cases have a lot of similarities, the way you, your loved one, or friend responds to treatment can vary.

I personally know 2 women faced with the diagnosis of triple negative breast cancer.  Both of these women successfully completed their treatments and are both now on the path of survivorship.

Special prayer to my pink sisters who are triple negative breast cancer survivors.