# The Relationship Between Clinicopathological Features and Prognosis of 22 Cases of Tubular Breast Carcinoma

## TL;DR

This study examines the clinicopathological features and prognosis of 22 cases of tubular breast carcinoma, a rare type of breast cancer, to improve understanding and treatment.

## Contribution

The study provides insights into the prognostic factors of tubular breast carcinoma, identifying HER-2 as an independent risk factor.

## Key findings

- Tubular breast carcinoma patients showed high ER and PR positivity, low Ki-67, and no lymph node metastasis.
- The 5-year disease-free survival rate was 90.9%, indicating a generally favorable prognosis.
- HER-2 level and postoperative treatment significantly influenced prognosis, while recurrence and metastasis did not.

## Abstract

Background: Breast tubular carcinoma is a special pathological type of invasive breast cancer, accounting for about 0.8% to 10.0% of breast cancer cases, and it is a rare type of breast cancer. Currently, there is still a lack of relevant diagnostic and treatment consensus. Exploring the relationship between the pathological characteristics, molecular subtypes, and prognosis of ductal breast cancer is of great scientific value and clinical significance for improving patients' survival rate and quality of life.

Methods: The clinical data of 22 patients with tubular breast carcinoma diagnosed by pathology in The First Medical Center of PLA General Hospital from January 2001 to December 2021 were collected, and their pathological features, molecular classification, and prognosis were analyzed retrospectively.

Results: The clinicopathological features of 22 patients with tubular breast carcinoma were age ≥ 35 years, married, tumor ≤ 2 cm, single focal, mixed type, no lymph node metastasis, estrogen receptor (ER) positive, progesterone receptor (PR) positive, Ki-67 ≤ 14%, CyclinD1 negative, less recurrence, and metastasis. Twenty-two patients with breast tubular carcinoma were followed up for 5 years after surgery, and the survival rate of disease-free survival (DFS) was 90.9% (20/22). The positive rates of ER, PR, and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) are 100.0%, 100.0%, and 40.9%, respectively. The proportion of tumor cells expressing Ki-67 is 45.4%. Among them, the difference of HER-2 level, recurrence and metastasis, and postoperative comprehensive treatment showed different prognoses.

Conclusion: Tubular breast carcinoma is a kind of tumor with a low malignant degree. The prognosis is significantly related to its HER-2 level, recurrence and metastasis, and postoperative comprehensive treatment by univariate analysis, in which HER-2 is an independent risk factor, postoperative comprehensive treatment is a protective factor, but postoperative recurrence and metastasis have nothing to do with the prognosis by the multivariate analysis.