Background
On average, one in eight Australian females will develop breast cancer and one in 37 women will die from it before the age of 85 years. Luminal A breast cancer is the most common subtype and in general, carry the best prognosis of all breast cancer subtypes. The aim of this study to describe pattern of care and outcomes of womens with Luminal A breast cancer.
Methods
A retrospective analysis carried out at North West Cancer Centre (NWCC), Tamworth from 2009 to 2013. Luminal A subtype breast cancers are identified by oestrogen/progesterone receptors positive, HER2 receptor negative and low expression of proliferation genes (Grade 1 tumour).
Results
Total seventy-four patients with Luminal type A breast cancer identified during the study period. Median age at diagnosis was 64 years (range 42-90 years). Sixty (81%) patients were post-menopausal. Thirty-eight (51%) patients had screen-detected breast cancer. The median tumour size was 12.5 mm (range 2-60mm). Ten (14%) patients had positive lymph nodes. At diagnosis, fifty-four (73%) were Stage I, Fifteen (20%) were Stage II and five (7%) were Stage III. Twenty patients had a mastectomy and fifty-four underwent breast conservative surgery. Fifty-eight (78%) patients have received adjuvant endocrine treatment and thirty-six (49%) had radiation therapy. Twelve (16%) patients underwent adjuvant chemotherapy; ten of them had positive lymph nodes and remaining had high risk features. Four (9%) patients relapsed. Out of total five deaths, two died due to breast cancer. Sixty-nine patients are still alive. Five-year observed survival is 97.2%.
Conclusion
At our centre, Luminal A subtype breast cancer observed more commonly in older post-menopausal females and carries excellent survival outcome even in node positive patients; survival data are similar to what has seen so far in the literature.