Breast Tumor Awareness Lacking Among Cancer Patients: Study

Many women who have had a brush with breast cancer lack basic understanding of their tumors, a new study reveals.

According to The Huffington Post, the study showed that participants were not aware about grade, stage, and whether or not their cancer was estrogen dependent and HER2 positive. The study involved 500 women who underwent surgery for breast cancer, as shown by California Cancer Registry. Knowledge of these parameters is tied to greater compliance of treatment regimens.

"We were really surprised by the results," said Rachel Freedman at Dana Faber Cancer Institute, in a news release.

"Of all of these factors, a tumor's grade is likely the least important element for patients to know, although physicians use grade to make decisions about treatments, including chemotherapy," she added.

The study found that only eight percent of the women knew everything about their tumors. While 57 percent of the women were right about the tumor stage just about 20 percent correctly reported the grade. Of the participants, 32 percent claimed they knew their grade.

While 55 percent of the women said they knew if their tumors were estrogen receptor positive or not, 56 percent of the participants were right about ER status and 58 percent about HER2 status.

The study also found that knowledge about tumor parameters varied across groups with women from minority groups were less likely than white women to know about their tumor characteristics.