# Tubular carcinoma of the breast

Source: https://onco.cc/cancers/tubular-carcinoma-breast/  
OnCo record `tubular-carcinoma-breast` (Cancer). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Tubular carcinoma is a rare, slow-growing type of breast cancer made of small, well-formed tubes, usually found small on a screening mammogram. Its outlook is excellent, better even than other grade 1 breast cancers, and it is treated with surgery, radiotherapy where the breast is kept, and hormone therapy.

## Summary

The WHO classification defines tubular carcinoma by well-formed open tubules with a single layer of low-grade cells making up over 90 percent of the tumour (Tan 2020). In the Nottingham series of 2,608 carcinomas, the 102 tubular carcinomas, compared with 212 grade 1 ductal carcinomas, were more often detected by screening, smaller, and less often showed lymphovascular invasion; they had longer disease-free and breast cancer-specific survival, and no patient developed distant metastasis or died of the disease without an intervening recurrence of a different histological type (Rakha 2010). In an earlier series of 44 patients, nodes were involved in 4 of 32 examined (13 percent), tumours under 15 mm had no nodal involvement, ductal carcinoma in situ accompanied 52 percent, second breast cancers developed in 16 percent and overall mortality was 2 percent (Breast Journal 2003).

How it differs from its parent: it is the special type with the best prognosis, hormone-receptor positive and HER2-negative (luminal A), and its main risk is a second, different breast cancer rather than relapse of the tubular tumour (Rakha 2010).

How common: 3.9 percent of the Nottingham series (Rakha 2010); no population figure was found in the sources read.

Treatment: as HR-positive breast cancer, generally the minimum the parent page allows: breast-conserving surgery with radiotherapy (local recurrence 1 of 20 without radiotherapy against 0 of 13 with it in the 2003 series), sentinel node biopsy, and endocrine therapy; chemotherapy is rarely indicated.

## Fields

- Kind: Cancer
- Last checked: 2026-09-24
- Also known as: Tubular carcinoma; Tubular breast cancer; Pure tubular carcinoma
- Tags: subtype-page; wave4; breast
- Group: breast
- Burden: 102 of 2,608 carcinomas (3.9 percent) in the Nottingham series that defined its prognosis (Rakha 2010); more often found by screening than other types.
- Subtypes: Pure tubular carcinoma (over 90 percent tubules; luminal A); Mixed tubular carcinoma (tubular with another low-grade component); Tubular carcinoma with associated ductal carcinoma in situ (about half of cases)
- Biomarkers: Percentage of tubule formation (over 90 percent); Oestrogen and progesterone receptor positive, HER2 negative; Node status (usually negative)

## Sections of this record

The page is a hub with ten sections in reading order; large sections have their own page. The same plan as JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/cancers/tubular-carcinoma-breast/sections.json

- Overview (on the hub): The TL;DR, the family this cancer belongs to, the organ, who gets it and what the state of the art is. https://onco.cc/cancers/tubular-carcinoma-breast/#overview
- What it is (on the hub): Anatomy, the subtypes and how they differ, how it is staged, and where advanced disease spreads. https://onco.cc/cancers/tubular-carcinoma-breast/#what-it-is [3 subtypes]
- Finding it (on the hub): How it shows itself, how it is confirmed, what screening exists, and the biomarkers clinicians test for. https://onco.cc/cancers/tubular-carcinoma-breast/#finding-it [3 biomarkers]
- Treating it (on the hub): The standard of care by setting, the medicines, surgery and radiotherapy named in it, and the regimens behind them. https://onco.cc/cancers/tubular-carcinoma-breast/#treating-it [1 setting, 1 decision with options]
- Evidence (on the hub): Trials recruiting now, the landmark trials, the key papers and what they mean, the latest literature, and the milestones year by year. https://onco.cc/cancers/tubular-carcinoma-breast/#evidence
- The science (on the hub): The molecular landscape: the targets and how often each appears, the pathways, the mechanics stages and the preclinical models. https://onco.cc/cancers/tubular-carcinoma-breast/#science [1 target]
- Where you are (own page): Cases by country, the UK and NHS pathway and other country lenses, and the expert centres with trials on record. https://onco.cc/cancers/tubular-carcinoma-breast/where-you-are/
- Living with it (on the hub): The decisions you may face, the aids that walk through them, the warnings on record, the first sixty days and the questions to ask. https://onco.cc/cancers/tubular-carcinoma-breast/#living-with-it [8 questions, 3 red cards]
- What is coming (own page): Everything in development, the open problems and what is being done about them, the roadmaps, and what changed on this record. https://onco.cc/cancers/tubular-carcinoma-breast/coming/ [2 medicines]
- Data (own page): Every connected record, the notes, the JSON, Markdown and RDF twins, and where the record came from and when it was checked. https://onco.cc/cancers/tubular-carcinoma-breast/data/ [7 connected records]

## Standard of care

- All stages: Treated as HR-positive breast cancer with the least treatment the parent page allows: surgery, radiotherapy after breast conservation, endocrine therapy; chemotherapy rarely. ([HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/breast-hr-positive/), [Tamoxifen](https://onco.cc/drugs/tamoxifen/), [Letrozole (and other aromatase inhibitors)](https://onco.cc/drugs/letrozole/), [Endocrine therapy (SERMs, AIs, SERDs)](https://onco.cc/technologies/endocrine-therapy/))

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubular_carcinoma
- Tan 2020, Histopathology: the 2019 WHO classification of tumours of the breast: https://doi.org/10.1111/his.14091
- Rakha 2010, JCO: tubular carcinoma of the breast, further evidence for its excellent prognosis: https://doi.org/10.1200/jco.2009.23.5051
- Breast Journal 2003: tubular carcinoma of the breast, institutional experience and review: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1524-4741.2003.09409.x
- Cancer Research UK: types of breast cancer: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/breast-cancer/types

## Connected records

- cancers: [Breast cancer (all types)](https://onco.cc/cancers/breast-cancer/), [HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/breast-hr-positive/), [Invasive cribriform carcinoma of the breast](https://onco.cc/cancers/invasive-cribriform-carcinoma-breast/), [Invasive lobular carcinoma of the breast](https://onco.cc/cancers/invasive-lobular-carcinoma/), [Mucinous carcinoma of the breast](https://onco.cc/cancers/mucinous-carcinoma-breast/)
- technologies: [Endocrine therapy (SERMs, AIs, SERDs)](https://onco.cc/technologies/endocrine-therapy/)
- drugs: [Letrozole (and other aromatase inhibitors)](https://onco.cc/drugs/letrozole/), [Tamoxifen](https://onco.cc/drugs/tamoxifen/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/tubular-carcinoma-breast.json