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ER/PR positive Breast Cancer, heard before? It is worth reading and spreading a word about.

Breast Cancer is one of the rapidly growing and perhaps the cancer with the highest incidences in the Indian subcontinent. It has emerged as a socio-economic issue beyond its atrocious physical attributes. Due to the late-stage presentation or late diagnosis in over 60%-70% of women, the treatment outcomes are often compromised. However, with the recent advances in the way breast cancers are treated worldwide, we are able to achieve reasonably good results in patients who come to us with the affected breasts, with or without the involvement of secondary organs.

Diagnosis of Hormone Positive Breast Cancer is in fact a matter of encouragement for us, the cancer specialists, and more prominently for women who are suffering with it. This encouragement is due to the predictability of the relatively better treatment outcomes & the availability of non-chemotherapy treatment options for this subtype of disease. Hormone Positive Breast Cancer prevails to an extent of 70%-75% of the total breast cancers worldwide and India is no exception.

To understand what is hormone positive breast cancer, we need to understand the biology of female body. Female gender develops under the influence of female hormones called Estrogen and Progesterone. When cancer in the breasts develops or begin to grow under the influence of these hormones, it is called Hormone Positive Breast Cancer. Such cancers carry significant number of Estrogen and Progesterone receptors in the breast to develop an abnormality.

Hormone positivity is considered to be a low risk factor in breast cancer victims; therefore, oncologists can predict reasonably better treatment results in such patients. More importantly, after completion of a brief schedule of chemotherapy depending on the stage of a cancer, patients can continue to take what is popularly called as hormonal therapy tablets. Hormone therapy can be termed as a primitive form of precision medicine which specifically targets hormone receptors to control the development, redevelopment or progression of cancer for a significantly longer time, unlike chemotherapy that is non-specific in nature. It is indeed magical to see how a small tablet of hormonal treatment can control a dreadful disease with minimal or negligible side effects.

Very recently, scientists have discovered newer hormonal therapies with improved efficiency that potentially work wonders in cancers that are spread to other organs beyond breast. These are cheerful developments in hormone positive breast cancer management and I am sure patients will benefit a lot out of them.

Dr. Pradip Kendre, DNB, DM

Consultant Medical Oncologist

Mumbai Oncocare Centre, Borivali & Malad

9920767626 | 7506128787

www.mocindia.co.in

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