A study of the prevalence of Estrogen & Progesterone Receptor markers positivity in female breast cancer cases in Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer accounts for 26% of all new cases of cancer among women and is the leading cause of death in those aged between 20-59 years, Estrogen and Progesterone receptors play an important role in the development and prognosis of breast cancer, their measurement by immunohistochemical assay is vital in the hormonal management of breast cancer. Aims: To estimate the prevalence of Estrogen and Progesterone receptors positivity in female breast cancer cells in Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital. Patients & methods: A prospective study for breast cancer cases in females in Al- Yarmouk Teaching Hospital for the period from 1st of July 2009 to 31st of December 2010 , By using immunohistochemical study in the Histopathological department of Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital , the results were correlated with age of the patients, tumor size, grade and tumor histopathological type. Results: Total No. of patients studied were fifty. During the study, the age frequency was higher in the postmenopausal group (54%); the Estrogen Receptor (ER) +ve highest content (55.55%) was observed in that group, the Progesteron (PR) +ve highest level (52.17%) was observed in a premenopausal group (46%),Receptor positivity in Tumor size of the favorable type means equal to or less than 5 cm present in (92%) of the cases in which ER+ve level (58.69%) is the highest in that type, while the PR+ve level was (50%) in the unfavorable type means size above 5 cm which represent (8%) of the total cases. Regarding the relation with Tumor Grade the frequency of Receptors positivity in grade II (56%) more than grade I (24%) then grade III (20%), The highest ER+ve level (75%) was observed in grade I while PR+ve highest level (42.85%) in grade II, In studying the histopathological types the most prevalent type is infiltrative duct carcinoma (I.D.C) (62%) which have the highest ER+ve level (64.51%) while PR+ve level (42.10%) was high in infiltrative lobular carcinoma (I.L.C) type. Conclusions: Breast cancer in this hospital has the same pattern of age incidence worldwide and histopathological type but of the more favorable type with lower Grade of malignancy. This reflects a changing trend towards less aggressive pattern. The variability of ER & PR positive contents in this study needs further studies to compare our results with because the Iraqi cancer registry lacks data on hormonal receptor contents of breast cancer cases.