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Most common breast cancer subtype could still be potentially fatal

Category: Breast

Even luminal A tumors - normally considered the easiest breast cancer tumors for doctors to eradicate and for the patient to survive - can still cause death a decade after they are found through cancer marker lab testing.

These findings, appearing in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, were compiled over the course of 21 years of monitoring 1,000 breast cancer patients at Kaiser Permanente Southern California.

"It is important to consider breast cancer molecular subtypes in determining the optimal treatment for women with breast cancer. Women with luminal A tumors - the least aggressive but most common cancerous breast tumor - could benefit from extended treatment," said Reina Haque, lead study author from the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research and Evaluation.

Nonetheless, breast cancer patients have a high likelihood of surviving luminal A tumors, compared to the four other types of breast cancer listed by the Kaiser researchers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that, according to its most recent available statistics, more than 200,000 women received a positive result from lab testing for breast cancer in 2008.