Breast Cancer

[Nbmasi]

My brother was diagnosed to have Stage III Breast Cancer..he underwent Modified Radical Mastectomy & his histopath results showed positive ER/PR/Her2Neu...what exactly does  triple positive test results mean in lay man's term? ESTROGEN RECEPTOR ASSAY = POSITIVE, STAINING INTENSITY=+2, PERCENT TUMOR CELLS STAINED=+5, PROGESTERONE RECEPTOR ASSAY=POSITIVE, STAINING INTENSITY=+3, PERCENT TUMOR CELLS STAINED=+4, c-erb-B2 (Her-2/neu) =POSITIVE...

[bluebutterfly2222]

Hi,

Although ER+/PR+ tumors are generally "less aggressive" as japdip indicated, and have targeted therapies available to help reduce their risk of recurrence, the fact that your brother is also HER2+ is more worrisome, esp. as his disease wasn't discovered until Stage III.

You did not indicate the Grade of his tumor cells (on a  scale ranging from 1, not very aggressive, to 3, highly aggressive), or how much lymph node involvement he had, but HER2+ BC is often very aggressive.  Usually  chemotherapy is recommended, along with the targeted treatment for HER2+ BC, Herceptin.

Please post again, adding your comments to this same thread, to update us regarding how things are going, or if you have additional questions.

Best wishes to both you and your brother,
bluebutterfly.

[japdip]

These positive results mean that the tumor was dependant upon these hormones for growth. This will figure into the post operative treatment that will be recommended by his Oncology Team. This type of tumor is usually labeled as "less aggressive" than ER/PR negative tumors. Regards ....