I went today for my results following a WLE. My original diagnosis had been TN, stage 3, tumour size 5cms, my regimen was 2xEC, 4XFEC. I had lymph surgery first followed by chemo and then WLE.
At today’s consultation I was informed that the needle biopsy I had showed a TN tumour (which I did know), but the biopsy on my tumour post op said slightly different. The difference to me seems to be a nuance, but I confess I don’t understand the percentages. So here goes…
ER 0/8 PR4/8 HER2 is negative (obviously I understand that).
Can anyone explain the percentages please; my breast surgeon did say they are low, but that Letrazole maybe an advantage?
Also, does anyone have info on Metaplastic breast tumours as apparently that’s what mine was and is very rare, I only learned this info today as pre op it wasn’t able to be determined.
Thank you
Libby
Hi Libby,
I do not have any experience of metaplastic BC but I was guilty of trawling the internet almost 24/7 when I was first diagnosed with IDC and remember coming across metapalstic BC on facebook, so looked it up again this morning. Here is the link:
facebook.com/groups/124869030878992/
It’s a closed group which means you will need to apply to the administrator of the group so that you can see and read posts on there. The people there may be able to help you.
Also try the American website breastcancer.org and search for metaplastic BC on their discussion forums. They are obviously going to be a bigger community than ours and you may find it easier to find a discussion on your particular BC.
I was originally diagnosed as TN as I was only 2/8 for oestrogen at biopsy but that was uplifted to 3/8 after the pathologist got a look at the tumour. According to my oncologist that makes me weakly ER+ and he has given me Anastrozole anyway because it may help. However he did say that some oncologists would still treat a score of 3/8 as TN. With a score of 4/8 you are more positive than I am and may get some benefit from letrozole. I believe that a score of 0,1,2 is regarded as negative. 3 or 4 is weakly responsive; 5 or 6 moderately responsive; 7 or 8 highly responsive.
I hope you find some more information
Cherry
libby
I know some of the women on the US boards (website Cherry mentioned) have talked about this. They seem to measure it differently (in percentages) but oncs they have discussed will consider anything over 1% worth a go with hormonals.
Laurie x
Thanks for your help Cherry and Laurie, I will take a look at the American website.
Until yesterday I had never heard the word metaplastic and did a search on Macmillan’s site which returned no hits. There seems to be so many different types of BC, it’s all very confusing!
Your explanation in layman’s terms re ER, PR percentages has been most helpful and much appreciated.
Libby x
Hi Libby
There has recently been a posting on here about metaplastic BC, I had never heard of it before but the post should be in the first few pages of ‘Latest Posts’
As to ER and PR, the scores that have already been described are correct. It sounds like you might have some benefit from taking a form of hormone tablet at a score of 4 out of 8 for ER. Hope all goes well with your treatment, whatever it might be after your recent op.
Nicky xx
Hi Nicky,
Many thanks for alerting me to the Metaplastic thread, I’ve found it and read through, interesting.
I’m going for an afternoon nap now but will look at the facebook group later.
Thank you for your good wishes.
Libby x
Libby the meta plastic thread was the one I mentioned in my reply to your other post… So I’m glad you have found it.
With reference to the percentages…
ER and PR are based on two elements… Percentage and intensity… There are 5 categories of the percentage and 3 of intensity.
Basically they insert dye which shows up the amount of receptors (%) and how much of the dye they absorb (intensity).
Intensity is low, moderate or strong… 1,2 or 3
Percentage under 1%, 1-10%, 10-33%, 33-66% and over 66%
So a 4 could be less than 1% of cells with a strong intensity, or 1-10% of cells with a moderate intensity, or 10-33% of cells with a low intensity… It sound alike you fit into the second or third options as your onc says he would treat of over 1%.
Btw the scores are usually negative, low and strong
0 & 2 are negative (there is no 1)
3-5 is oestrogen/progesterone low
6-8 is strongly positive.
Hope that helps
Lulu x