BACKGROUND: Tubular carcinoma (TC) of the breast is an uncommon,
well-differentiated subtype of breast cancer with an excellent prognosis, but ambiguity in
how it should be defined and treated.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the clinicopathologic characteristics and survival
outcomes of patients with TC.
METHODS: The University of Virginia (UVA) Breast Cancer Database and the
Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) databases were queried for patients with
either grade 1 TC or grade 1 ductal (G1D) breast cancer.
RESULTS: Nineteen institutional TC cases were identified and compared to 54
G1D cases. Flat epithelial atypia frequently was found with TC and not with G1D. There was
no difference in overall or progression free survival. In SEER 18, 9,565 cases of TC were
found. Most cases were stage I and patient characteristics were nearly identical. Both
cause specific survival and overall survival were significantly longer for TC when
compared to G1D.
CONCLUSIONS: This review shows TC to have favorable behavior, with similar
features to, but superior survival compared to low-grade ductal carcinoma of the breast.
This suggests the adequacy of histopathologic review while reinforcing the designation of
TC as a unique subtype.
