Author :
Pavani Vatsal, Ashish Kumar Chaudhary, Vikash Katiar, Lubna Khan, Jitendra Kumar Verma, Yogendra Narayan Verma, Priyesh Shukla1
Volume :
12
Issue :
3
Abstract :
Background: The global burden of breast cancer is increasing, and it has become the most common malignancy in the female sex worldwide with increasing incidence of young onset breast cancer. Cheap and effective screening modalities are needed to reduce the mortality and morbidity associated with the disease and its treatment. Prolactin’s role in breast oncogenesis and tumor progression has been established. Further studies are required to determine the association of prolactin levels with both benign and malignant breast conditions and if prolactin levels change on treating those conditions.Methods: Recent literature was reviewed to formulate the method of the study. Serum prolactin levels were sent at the time of diagnosing benign and malignant breast diseases, and after one month of surgery or starting conservative treatment. Statistical tests were applied to determine the cut off value to discriminate benign and malignant breast diseases and whether the associations of serum prolactin levels with benign and malignant diseases were significant.Results: The receiver operating characteristics curve analysis yielded a serum prolactin level cut-off value of 15.78 ng/mL at the time of diagnosis. Around 85.83% of the patients with benign breast diseases had serum prolactin levels lower than 15.78 ng/mL and around 85.77% of the patients with malignant breast diseases had serum prolactin levels greater than 15.78 ng/mL. The mean prolactin levels decreased significantly one month post treatment.Conclusion: The rationale of using serum prolactin levels as a screening tool for breast cancer, discriminator between benign and malignant breast diseases and a monitoring tool to check the response of management have been discussed.
Keyword :
Benign breast diseases, Breast cancer, Prolactin, Screening, Tumor marker, Young onset breast cancer.