{"entity":{"id":"tubular-carcinoma-breast","kind":"cancer","name":"Tubular carcinoma of the breast","aka":["Tubular carcinoma","Tubular breast cancer","Pure tubular carcinoma"],"tldr":"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).\n\nHow 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).\n\nHow common: 3.9 percent of the Nottingham series (Rakha 2010); no population figure was found in the sources read.\n\nTreatment: 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.","asOf":"2026-09-24","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubular_carcinoma","links":[{"label":"Tan 2020, Histopathology: the 2019 WHO classification of tumours of the breast","url":"https://doi.org/10.1111/his.14091"},{"label":"Rakha 2010, JCO: tubular carcinoma of the breast, further evidence for its excellent prognosis","url":"https://doi.org/10.1200/jco.2009.23.5051"},{"label":"Breast Journal 2003: tubular carcinoma of the breast, institutional experience and review","url":"https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1524-4741.2003.09409.x"},{"label":"Cancer Research UK: types of breast cancer","url":"https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/breast-cancer/types"}],"tags":["subtype-page","wave4","breast"],"related":["breast-cancer","breast-hr-positive","invasive-cribriform-carcinoma-breast","invasive-lobular-carcinoma","mucinous-carcinoma-breast"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":["endocrine-therapy"],"targets":[],"drugs":["tamoxifen","letrozole"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"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)"],"standardOfCare":[{"setting":"All stages","approach":"Treated as HR-positive breast cancer with the least treatment the parent page allows: surgery, radiotherapy after breast conservation, endocrine therapy; chemotherapy rarely.","refs":["breast-hr-positive","tamoxifen","letrozole","endocrine-therapy"]}],"stateOfArt":[],"history":[],"pipeline":[],"openProblems":[],"parent":"breast-cancer"},"route":"/cancers/tubular-carcinoma-breast/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"breast-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"Breast cancer (all types)","route":"/cancers/breast-cancer/"},{"id":"breast-hr-positive","kind":"cancer","name":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","route":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/"},{"id":"invasive-cribriform-carcinoma-breast","kind":"cancer","name":"Invasive cribriform carcinoma of the breast","route":"/cancers/invasive-cribriform-carcinoma-breast/"},{"id":"invasive-lobular-carcinoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Invasive lobular carcinoma of the breast","route":"/cancers/invasive-lobular-carcinoma/"},{"id":"mucinous-carcinoma-breast","kind":"cancer","name":"Mucinous carcinoma of the breast","route":"/cancers/mucinous-carcinoma-breast/"}],"technology":[{"id":"endocrine-therapy","kind":"technology","name":"Endocrine therapy (SERMs, AIs, SERDs)","route":"/technologies/endocrine-therapy/"}],"drug":[{"id":"letrozole","kind":"drug","name":"Letrozole (and other aromatase inhibitors)","route":"/drugs/letrozole/"},{"id":"tamoxifen","kind":"drug","name":"Tamoxifen","route":"/drugs/tamoxifen/"}]}}