*African American women with breast cancer are 67 percent more likely to die from the disease.
*Cultural and social economic factors might mean African Americans women have less access to screening, early detection, and treatment of breast cancer.
*African American women are more likely to miss health care appointments after diagnosis and suffer from more obesity, which has been linked to diagnosis at a later stage and poorer outcomes.
*African American women are more likely to be diagnosed with estrogen and progesterone receptor-negative tumors with contribute to a poorer prognosis.
*Other forms of breast cancer associated with poor prognosis, such as inflammatory carcinoma, are also more common among African American women.
Types of Breast Cancer
Invasive or Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma (IDC)
IDC is the most common type of breast cancer representing 78% of all malignancies. These lesions appear as stellated (star-like) or well-circumscribed (rounded) areas on mammograms. The stellated lesions generally have a poorer prognosis.
Invasive or Infiltrating Lobular Carcinoma (ILC)
Infiltrating lobular carcinoma is a type of breast cancer that usually appears as a subtle thickening in the upper-outer quadrant of the breast. This breast cancer type represents 5% of all diagnosis. Often positive for estrogen and progesterone receptors, these tumors respond well to hormone therapy.
Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC)
Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare and very aggressive type of breast cancer that causes the lymph vessels in the skin of the breast to become blocked. This type of breast cancer is called “inflammatory” because the breast often looks swollen and red, or “inflamed.” IBC accounts for 1% to 5% of all breast cancer cases in the United States.