Triple Negative Breast Cancer Survey Glossary

Tigerlily Foundation

TNBC Survey – Glossary of Terms (In order of appearance)

Download this Glossary HERE.

Counseling services – mental health support for you is usually provided by a psychologist or social worker

Anxiety – when you are feeling worried or afraid

Fatigue – when you are very tired

Biopsy– when your doctor removes & looks at your cells or tissue from your body under a microscope to look for disease

Ultrasound is a test that your doctor may order to take computer pictures of the inside of your breast to look at lumps that may be solid or filled with fluid. Your doctor may order this test if it is hard to tell the difference on your mammogram. The test is not painful and is done using a handheld wand that is moved around over the skin of your breast.

(Breast) MRI is a test your doctor may order that uses special equipment using magnets, not x-rays, to take pictures from many different angles of the inside of your breasts. You will need to have dye injected into a vein in your arm before the pictures are taken to help see all areas I ( IN  your breasts. You will lie face down on a flat table with your arms over your head and the table slides into a long, skinny tube.

Biomarker testing (for cancer treatment) – when your health care provider takes blood, cells, or tissue as a way to look for genes, proteins and other substances that can give information about your cancer.  Biomarker testing may also be called mutation, genomic, or molecular testing.

Clinical or Nurse navigator is usually a nurse who is trained to help support you and guide you through the health care system such as doctor’s offices, hospitals & clinics.

Lay or Peer navigator is a trained person from your community who knows the medical system difficulties & can provide you with support & guidance throughout your care and treatment

Palliative care services is when a medical care team helps you manage the severe symptoms of your illness & gives help to you & your family to improve the quality of your life. Examples of Palliative care services include:

• Expert treatment of pain and other symptoms so you can get the best relief possible
• Open discussion about treatment choices, including treatment for your disease and management of your symptoms
• Coordination of your care with all of your healthcare providers
• Emotional support for you and your family.

Types of cancers

• Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) – TNBC is a type of breast cancer where the cancer cells grow very fast and spread easily. Triple-negative means the cancer cells don’t have estrogen or progesterone receptors and also don’t make any or very little of the protein called HER2. When your doctor tests your cancer cells for this type of breast cancer, your test shows that these substances are not there for all 3 of these tests. Your doctor may tell you that you tested negative for all 3 of these substances.
• Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) also known as Intraductal carcinoma – when the cells lining the milk ducts of your breast turn cancerous but do not spread.
• Invasive ductal carcinoma – when cancer cells in your breast grow in the lining of your milk duct, break through the wall of the milk duct and spread into your breast tissue. The cancer may spread to other parts of your body.
• Invasive lobular carcinoma – when cancer cells begin growing in the milk glands in your breast and may spread to your lymph nodes & other areas of your body.
• Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) – when cancer cells block the lymph tubes in the skin of your breast. Your breast may look red and swollen.
• Paget disease of the breast – when cancer cells begin to grow in your breast ducts and spread to your nipple and then to the dark circle around your nipple.
• Angiosarcoma – when cancer cells grow in the inner lining of the blood & lymph tubes in your breast. Sometimes it happens in people who have had radiation for breast cancer in the past.
• Phyllodes tumor – when cancer cells grow in the tissue that connects all the parts of the inside of your breast.

Clinical trial– a medical research study that is used to test whether new drugs or treatments are safe and helpful for you

Fertility preservation -People who have cancer and are worried about getting pregnant in the future can have their embryos, eggs, ovarian tissue, sperm or testicular tissue frozen for possible future pregnancy

(Patient) Advocacy training programs are training programs for people to learn how to support patients with cancer, to teach and raise awareness about cancer, to help move research forward, to improve the quality of cancer care and to work with our government and healthcare agencies to improve cancer care and research.