New Study Questions True Favorability of Rare Breast Cancer Type

ScienceDaily (Dec. 12, 2009) — In a large review of breast cancer patients with mucinous carcinoma, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have identified an association between this rare type of breast cancer long-associated with a favorable prognosis and multiple tumors undetected by mammography or ultrasound.

The study, presented December 12 at the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, is the first to observe this negative association and should caution those caring for mucinous breast cancer patients that more, not less, therapy, as well as additional screening may be needed for a select group of these patients, said George Perkins, M.D., associate professor in M. D. Anderson Department of Radiation Oncology and the study's first author.

Mucinous breast cancer, also known as colloid carcinoma, is a rare type of invasive breast cancer formed by mucus-producing cancer cells. Perkins estimated that the disease accounts for approximately two percent of all breast cancers diagnosed. The prognosis for mucinous carcinoma is thought to be better than for the more common types of invasive breast cancers."

"While mucinous breast cancer is thought to be a disease with a favorable prognosis, our study is the first to identify it as one associated with significant multifocal presentation -- a potentially unfavorable aspect with a subtype long thought to be extremely favorable," said Perkins.

source: Science Daily Release