As can be deduced from the name, Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a form of cancer that doesn't have any of the three known receptors: the HER2 protein, progesterone, and estrogen.
This means this cancer will return a negative result on all three tests, dramatically reducing the treatment options available. Accounting for 10-15% of breast cancers, no other subtype of breast cancer's prognosis is as bad as that of TBNC's.
It is saddening that TBNC seems to have a colossal relish for African-American breasts. This cancer type predominates in Black American women less than 40 years, particularly those who have the mutated BRCA1 gene copy.
How bad can these cancers be? Well, they metastasize really fast. The chances of recurrence are particularly high during the first few years. Statistics from John's Hopkins Breast Center reveal that 1-2 in 10 persons who receive breast cancer diagnosis end up having TBNC.
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TBNC symptoms don't radically differ from the regular breast cancer symptoms. Therefore, patients can experience a mass or lump in their breast, nipple discharge (and in some cases an inverted nipple), and redness in the breast, often accompanied by pains.
What are the chances of recurrence?
Relapses are not atypical of breast cancer. Such reemergence of cancer can occur in far parts of the body like distant-from-the-breast organs or bones. This is termed metastatic cancer.
The cancer can also reemerge locally in the scar tissue or the breast. The former can't be cured, but can, of course, be systematically managed.
Of all the cancer types, none are as notorious for reemerging as TBNC. Such chances of recurrence are pronounced during the first 36 months of diagnosis.
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If the patient survives the first five years of TBNC, such recurrences probability drastically falls, eliminating the need for extended post-therapy care programs.
Bear in mind that several conditions are strongly indicative of recurrence. You may have not permanently kissed TBNC goodbye if you have larger tumors, you had lymph modes, or if you had a lumpectomy with no radiation.
How well can you survive TBNC?
TBNC is not the most "diplomatic" of cancers. Unruly, its survival rate within the first five years counts among the lowest in cancer types. This 5-year survival rate differs depending on how far the cancer has metastasized.
For TBNC that has metastasized and spread to neighboring lymph nodes, the patient has a survival rate of 65%. This means that 65 in every 100 patients of TNBC (that has spread) are alive after five years.
For perspective, other breast cancers have enhanced 5-year survival rates at 86%. For TBNC that is yet to spread out of the breast tissue, the 5-year survival rate is 91%. Other breast cancers come at 99%.
This survival rate is not thoroughly definitive. Variations in survival still occur due to each patient's particular conditions like health and age.
Some of the ascribed survival rates' limitations can be attributed to doctors basing the survival rates on a 70-month span. The implication is that TBNC patients who recently got their diagnosis are exposed to higher chances of survival.
This is owing to the massive technological gains being recorded in the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer. What more, these 5-year survival rates scarcely consider metastasis, relapses, or even consequent stages of the cancer.
How can you increase your chances of survival?
Your treatment plan's efficacy clearly determines the chances of you making it through the first five years safely and thereafter.
Admittedly, the treatment options are sparse considering the triple negativity of this cancer type to the said receptors.
Remarkably, the effectiveness of hormone therapies is reduced when adopted for treating TBNC. Due to the aggressive growth of TBNC, doctors commonly resort to chemotherapy.
It is also not uncommon for medical practitioners to resort to surgical procedures like lumpectomy (or mastectomy) in treating triple-negative cancer. Typically a treatment regimen would blend surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.
Regarding the surgical procedures, the practitioner may remove two or one of the woman's breasts as typical of mastectomies. Alternatively, the surgeon would incise off breast tissue as seen in lumpectomy.
The choice between these procedures is commonly determined by how early the cancer was diagnosed regarding its development stage. Of course, the earlier the diagnosis, the more robust the patient's chances of survival.
Conclusively, if you are at amplified risk of developing triple-negative breast cancer, you can do a lot in preventing the occurrence of TBNC. This risk category spans African American women 35 years or younger, genetically predisposed, obese women, those with a family history of breast cancer, or women with benign breast conditions.
Such preventive actions are immensely connected to having healthy lifestyle choices. This involves eliminating smoking and alcoholic habits, exercising, and eating healthily.
