Especially in young women, breast cancer often presents as biologically aggressive. Nevertheless, the chances of survival are good if the right therapy is chosen.
More aggressive breast cancers tend to be found in women younger than 40. For example, the tumors are triple negative or HER2 positive. A study from Portugal of 207 female patients under 35 years of age demonstrated higher proportions of more aggressive tumor types [1]. They diagnosed tumors that were 20% triple negative, 28% HER2 positive, and 67% luminal B (versus 4% luminal A). However, 85% of those affected were able to beat the cancer. Only 26 patients had metastases and three had local recurrence. Survival was highest in women with hormone receptor-positive tumors, followed by those with HER2-positive breast cancer. Median survival in patients without metastatic disease was 130 months, compared with 37 months in patients with metastatic disease.
A Swiss study was also able to confirm that the rate of disease-free survival is very high with 94.3% after three years and 91.2% after five years in women under 50 years of age [2]. A total of 359 women were followed for recurrence of their breast cancer during a median follow-up of 45.6 months. Fourteen patients developed local recurrence, six distant metastases, and nine affected both. The median time to recurrence was 31 months. The results show that a diagnosis of breast cancer at a younger age is not associated with increased mortality or a higher likelihood of the cancer returning. Therefore, it is important that adequate treatment is provided regardless of age.
Source: ESMO Breast Cancer Conference 2019
Literature:
- Eiriz IF, et al: “Breast Cancer in Young Women – a multi-center 10-year experience”. Annals of Oncology 2019; Volume 30, Supplement 3, doi:10.1093/annonc/mdz095
- Cima S, et al: “Breast cancer early recurrences in young women”. Annals of Oncology 2019; Volume 30, Supplement 3, doi:10.1093/annonc/mdz095
InFo ONCOLOGY & HEMATOLOGY 2019; 7(2-3): 36 (published 6/21/19, ahead of print).
