I had a follow up with my consultant last Monday to discuss results after my lumpectomy. I’ve now had a letter re the results in which he mentions my cancer is oestrogen receptor positive (8/8) I knew it was hormone positive but he never mentioned the numbers - can anyone explain them to me? Anita xx
Hi Anita,
Pathology results for ER+ and PR+ are either given as a percentage or an Allred score between 0 and 8.
The Allred scoring system is named after the doctor who developed it.
The system looks at what percentage of cells test positive for hormone receptors, along with how well the receptors show up after staining (the "intensity”). The proportion score (on a scale of 0 to 5) and the intensity score (of 0 to 3) are then combined to score the pathology sample on a scale from 0 to 8. The higher the score, the more receptors were found and the easier they were to see in the sample.
Hormone receptors are proteins found in and on breast cells that pick up hormone signals telling the cells to grow. Therefore, the more cells with hormone receptors, the greater chance of supporting the growth of the breast cancer which feeds off oestrogen.
Here is a link giving more details of the Allred scoring system.
medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Allred+scoring+system
Hope this helps.
M x
PS. My ER+ score was 8/8 like yours which means hormone therapy is likely to be very beneficial for us.
Hi Anita I’m Er+ and Pr+ both 8/8. As magical moon says it means the hormone therapy can be very beneficial to us.
Not too bad thank you. Not good at being patient though so want it all healed now. How are you? Have you still got all the carers? Xx