Women with Hormone-Negative Breast Cancer Face Triple the Risk of Cancer in the Second Breast

Women with hormone-receptor-negative breast cancer, including triple negative, face another triple threat, as though they needed it:  three-times the risk of developing breast cancer in the second breast.  And the chances of that cancer also being HR- are ten times that of the general population.

The research is published in the July 9 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.  Researchers say this could impact follow-up care, which now often includes mammograms of the affected breast every six months, but only yearly mammos on the second breast.   Because some HR- tumors grow so rapidly but are not detected on mammograms until they are so large they are deadly, the researchers suggest that women with HR- be given a yearly MRI.

The study included 4,927 women with breast cancer; 3,701 of those had HR+ and 1,226 had HR-.  There was no information on Her2 status.

Some stats from the research:

• Nearly 1 in 25 breast cancer survivors will develop a second breast cancer in the same breast within 6 months of the original diagnosis.

• Women with HR+ breast cancer had twice the risk of cancer in the second breast than the general population.

• Women with HR- had more than three times the risk compared to women with HR+. NOTE:  THis is compared the HR+ women who had twice the risk of the general population.

• Women under 30 with HR- had a significantly increased risk of getting HR- in the second breast.

• Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians or Pacific Islanders were at a higher risk than non-Hispanic whites.

Read more here.