In a healthy body, natural systems control the growth and death of cells. Breast cancer develops when these systems don’t work correctly.
Early detection of breast cancer is key to treatment. Depending on the type and stage of the cancer, treatments may include surgery, radiation or systemic therapy such as chemotherapy or hormone therapy.
The cancer cells in breast tissue have receptors that can bind to and interact with certain proteins or hormones, such as estrogen. When the cancer cells grow out of control, they can form a tumor and grow into normal tissue around them. This process is known as metastasis.
Certain risk factors for breast cancer can be changed by a woman’s choices and behaviors. Many of the current breast cancer prevention strategies focus on reducing these risk factors. For example, women should not smoke and should not use hormone-based birth control pills. Women should also be physically active and eat a balanced diet that includes soy products and other phytoestrogens, which are naturally occurring plant substances with a similar chemical structure to estrogen.
There are some things that a woman cannot change, such as being female and getting older. The chance of getting breast cancer increases with age, and most cases are diagnosed in women over 50.
Other factors that increase a woman’s risk for breast cancer include inherited changes (mutations) in certain genes, particularly BRCA1 and BRCA2. These mutations greatly raise the chance of developing breast and other types of cancer. But they don’t make cancer inevitable, and many women who have these mutations never get breast or other types of cancer.
Having a first period before age 12 or menopause after age 50 also increases a woman’s risk for breast cancer, most likely because of the longer total exposure to estrogen in her lifetime. Being tall and taking hormones, including oral contraceptives or hormone replacement therapy, also may increase a woman’s risk for breast disease.
The type of radiation used in some medical imaging techniques, such as CT and MRI scans, can raise the risk for breast cancer. But the amount of radiation used in these procedures is very low and generally does not affect a woman’s overall cancer risk. Having a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, being exposed to radiation at work or school and working night shifts may also raise a woman’s risk. Whether this increased risk is because of the stress of these situations or because of direct effects of the chemicals used to manufacture certain plastics on which the breasts are often coated, remains under investigation.
Breast cancer occurs when abnormal cells grow out of control and form tumors in the breast tissue. Most often, a lump forms but breast cancer can also cause a wide variety of symptoms and signs that can be confused with other medical conditions. Symptoms and signs are the changes in your body that can help you recognize when something is wrong.
If your healthcare provider thinks that you may have breast cancer, they will do several tests to find out if it is likely to be malignant or benign (not cancer). These tests include physical examination, breast self-exams, and mammography. They will also do other imaging tests, such as ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). If the healthcare providers see anything suspicious on these tests, they will do a biopsy to test your breast tissue.
Most breast cancers start in the milk ducts or milk-producing lobules of the breast and can spread into surrounding tissue. The two main types of invasive breast cancer are ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC). The earliest stages of DCIS, called stage 0, are not life-threatening but they need to be checked regularly through mammograms and other scans.
The most common type of invasive breast cancer is IDC, which starts in the milk ducts and can then grow and invade surrounding breast tissue. When IDC becomes advanced, it can also spread into the lymph nodes and other parts of the body.
In the later stages of the disease, the cancer can spread to other organs in your body, such as the bones and lungs. When this happens, the cancer is considered metastatic and it is not curable.
Sometimes, breast cancer comes back after treatment to try to cure it. This is known as recurrent or relapsed breast cancer. It can happen even many years after you have been treated for your original diagnosis.
Most people with breast cancer have fairly short diagnostic intervals before they are diagnosed, but a large minority experience a long journey to diagnosis. This is most likely because of the importance of non-lump symptoms, and it highlights the need for future breast awareness campaigns to include a focus on these symptoms.
Breast cancer is a disease that happens when there are changes in the normal systems that control the creation, growth and death of cells. These changes can be caused by many different things, including exposure to chemicals and radiation, some diseases, infections and even some lifestyle choices like smoking. In a healthy body, these systems keep cancer cells from growing and spreading.
Some people with breast cancer do not have any symptoms at all and their cancer is found only through a screening mammogram or a physical exam by a doctor. But most women with breast cancer do have one or more symptoms. They may be feelings of a lump or thickening in the breast that does not go away during menstrual cycles, a change in how the breasts feel (tight, lumpy or painful) or pain in the armpit or chest.
If your doctor finds something that could be breast cancer, they will order tests to find out whether it is. These tests can include a mammogram and an ultrasound to look at the inside of your breasts. They can also include a biopsy to remove a sample of tissue from the area that is suspicious. A doctor can then send this tissue to a laboratory for testing.
The test results can show if the cancer is invasive, which means it has grown outside the milk ducts into the surrounding breast tissue, or noninvasive which means it is still in the milk ducts but hasn’t spread. It can also show if the cancer is hormone receptor positive, which means it has more of the hormones estrogen and progesterone that cause cells to grow faster.
In addition to these tests, doctors will do a blood test to check your red and white blood cell levels and platelets. They will also do a scan of your chest, abdomen and arms to see if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. This is called staging the cancer.
After surgery, your doctor will usually recommend radiotherapy to help stop the cancer from returning. Your doctor may also give you chemotherapy, which uses drugs to destroy fast-growing cells, including cancer cells. It is sometimes given before surgery to shrink a tumour or to decrease the chance of it coming back after surgery.
Breast cancer treatment is usually a combination of surgery, radiation and medications. Your doctor will talk with you about your options and explain the possible side effects of each. Your treatment team may also include physician assistants, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, social workers and patient/nurse navigators.
Depending on the type of cancer you have and how it spreads, your treatment may be different. The most common type of breast cancer is invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), which starts in the milk ducts or lobules and can grow into surrounding tissue. It can also spread to lymph nodes in the underarm area (axillary lymph nodes) or to other organs in the body. The most common treatment for early invasive breast cancer is a lumpectomy and radiation therapy.
In some cases, your doctor will also remove the sentinel lymph nodes, which are the first lymph nodes closest to the tumor. These lymph nodes are removed during a procedure called a sentinel lymph node biopsy or axillary lymph node dissection. If the sentinel lymph nodes are cancer-free, you may not need more surgery or radiation to your axillary lymph nodes.
After surgery, you may need to take drugs to lower the risk that the cancer will recur in the breast or spread to other parts of the body. These drugs are given as pills or intravenous (IV) infusion. They are usually given in a clinic or hospital and do not require a stay.
Some types of breast cancer use hormones to grow. Hormonal therapy works to block the action of estrogen and progesterone, which fuel the growth of these types of tumors. Medications used for this purpose are sometimes called endocrine therapy or hormonotherapy.
Radiation therapy is a type of external-beam treatment that can be delivered in a number of ways, including intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). IMRT allows your doctor to vary the amount of radiation aimed at the tumour and reduce the chance of damage to surrounding healthy tissues. Some people with breast cancer may need to have nipple reconstruction surgery after their treatment. This can be done by removing the cancerous part of the nipple and reconstructing it with nearby skin or tissue.
If you notice any of the following symptoms or signs, talk to your doctor right away. Your doctor will check you and decide what to do next.
Most women don’t have any breast cancer symptoms, but if you do, they include: Changes in your skin. Pain or tenderness. A lump that feels hard or full. A nipple that turns in or has blood in it.
When cancer grows in the breast tissue, it can cause changes in how a person’s nipple and chest look. It can also lead to pain, tenderness, and discharge from the nipple or armpit. If something new happens, it’s important to tell a doctor right away.
It’s normal to have pain in the breasts, especially during pregnancy or after childbirth. But it’s not usually a sign of cancer. It could be a sign of a benign growth, such as an enlarged lobule or a cyst. Breast cancer doesn’t typically cause pain, except when it’s near a nerve or a blood vessel.
Changes in the shape of the breast or nipple can be signs of cancer, but it’s important to remember that other things can cause them too. For example, one nipple may invert or sink into the breast. This can be a sign of a condition called nipple inversion syndrome, which is not always cancerous. But if the change is new and occurs only in one breast, or doesn’t come back after stimulation, it should be evaluated by a doctor.
Swollen lymph nodes in the armpit or around the collarbone can be a sign of breast cancer that has spread to these areas. Swelling in this area can feel like hard knots or thickening, and it may get red and scaly or puckered.
Discharge from the nipple can be clear, yellow, or green. It may also be watery or milky. It’s best to see a doctor if you have unusual nipple discharge, particularly if it’s bloody or different colors. The doctor can do a test called ductography to find out if the nipple ducts are working normally.
Pain or tenderness in the breasts isn’t a common sign of cancer. But if it’s accompanied by other symptoms, you should make an appointment to see your doctor.
The most typical symptom of breast cancer is a lump or mass in the breasts. Lumps are often hard and painful, although not all are cancerous. But a new lump should always be checked, regardless of whether it’s painful or not. Inflammation and certain other more common breast conditions—like a cyst or infection (mastitis)—can also cause pain.
If you have breast pain that’s accompanied by swelling in the armpit or near your collarbone, it could mean that cancer has spread to those areas. Pain can also occur after surgery to remove nipple tissue or lymph nodes in the underarm area. (This is called axillary dissection.) This type of pain tends to last longer and is more common the more lymph nodes are removed.
Most breast pain is caused by hormonal changes, including menstruation, pregnancy, puberty, and menopause. It can also be a sign of a health condition called fibrocystic breast disease. In some cases, pain isn’t related to the breasts at all but is felt in other parts of the body, like the chest wall or gallbladder. This is called referred pain.
It’s important to know how your breasts and nipples normally feel so that you can tell right away if there’s something unusual. And remember that routine screening mammograms are important for early detection of breast cancer. You should talk to your doctor about when and how often you should screen. And if you have a high risk of developing breast cancer, you may want to start screening earlier or more frequently than recommended.
While breast cancer can cause swelling, it may also be caused by other health conditions. For example, a change in the texture of the skin can be caused by fibrocystic changes, a lump may be caused by cysts or masses and nipple discharge could be the result of infections like mastitis.
If you notice a change in your breasts or nipples, see your doctor right away. Your doctor will help you determine if the symptoms are breast cancer-related or not.
Inflammatory breast cancer starts in cells in the lining of the milk ducts or lobules (where breast milk is made). It can be hard to diagnose because the tumour grows quickly and doesn’t usually cause any lumps.
The earliest symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer include breast pain, redness or heat in the nipple area, a swollen armpit (armpit), and nipple discharge that is not breast milk. It can also be difficult to distinguish this type of swelling from an infection such as mastitis, especially for women who are not breastfeeding.
Inflammatory breast cancer can be very dangerous, so it is important to visit your doctor if you have any of the symptoms. Your doctor can examine you and refer you to a specialist if necessary.
Women’s periods aren’t always the same. But a drastic change in the regularity or intensity of your menstrual bleeding may be a sign of breast cancer. It’s important to tell your doctor about any changes in your menstrual cycle.
Most breast cancers start in the cells that line your uterus and prepare it for pregnancy. When the lining breaks down, the body sheds it in a menstrual flow that lasts two to eight days. This explains why some women, especially young girls going through puberty and women nearing menopause, have irregular or inconsistent periods.
Irregular periods can also be caused by certain medications, including birth control pills and hormone therapy for uterine fibroids or endometriosis. Gaining or losing a lot of weight, especially in a short amount of time, can also cause your periods to become irregular. Exercise routines that result in very low body fat, such as those used by long-distance runners, can also alter your menstrual cycle.
A few women have a genetic fault, called a mutation, that increases their chance of getting breast and ovarian cancers. These women can develop breast cancer even when they have no family history of either disease. Your doctor can refer you to a specialist who will check whether you have a gene fault and can help you decide what to do if you have one.
Breast cancer treatment can make your menstrual cycle change, and if the changes are dramatic or you’re experiencing pain, talk to your doctor right away. Then they can check for problems that could affect your health and wellbeing, such as a cyst or other condition. They might also suggest a blood test to check your clotting levels.
If you have a discharge from your nipple that is not clear or bloody, you should tell your doctor. This symptom is less common than other breast cancer symptoms, but it should still be taken seriously. Nipple discharge can be caused by many things, including eczema or other conditions that affect the skin of your nipples, bacterial infections or Paget’s disease, an uncommon type of breast cancer in which cancer cells grow in the nipple-areolar complex.
Most nipple discharge is milky and occurs only when the nipple is squeezed or stimulated by breastfeeding, pumping or hormonal changes (such as those in premenopausal women). Discharge from one breast or only from a single milk duct is abnormal and needs to be evaluated. If a nipple discharge is bloody, it can be a sign of either a noncancerous tumor called a papilloma or breast cancer.
During a physical exam, your provider will ask about your breast history and symptoms and do a physical examination of your breasts and armpits. Your provider will also look for other signs of breast cancer, such as a lump or change in your breast shape.
Your provider may order imaging tests, such as a mammogram (breast X-ray) or ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). They may also order a biopsy to check for cancerous tissue. Galactography, which involves injecting radiopaque contrast into a nipple duct and then performing mammography, can sometimes help identify intraductal papillomas, but it has a low sensitivity for cancer and is not routinely recommended.
Breast Cancer treatment includes surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and hormone therapy. Your care team may also recommend a drug trial to treat advanced cancers.
Medullary carcinoma of the breast is a rare type that develops in tubes (tubules). It usually doesn’t spread and responds well to treatment.
Surgery is the first step in most breast cancer treatments. It may be an outpatient procedure performed at a doctor’s office or a surgery center, or you may have to stay in the hospital for a night or more. Before surgery, you’ll get a preop check-up to make sure you’re healthy enough for the operation. This typically includes tests like blood work, chest X-ray, electrocardiogram, colonoscopy or upper endoscopy and imaging such as an MRI, CT scan or ultrasound. Your healthcare provider will also send your test results to the surgeon.
Before surgery, your care team will explain the procedure to you. You’ll usually change into a gown before going to the operating room. Your surgeon will discuss the type of surgery you need with you, including whether your cancer is localized or invasive. They will also talk about the risks and benefits of the surgery.
Your surgical options include lumpectomy (removing only the lump) or mastectomy. Some women choose to have both breasts removed (double mastectomy). Your surgeon will also remove nearby lymph nodes to find out if your cancer has spread. If they have, you will get radiation therapy to the area. A procedure called a sentinel node biopsy can help determine whether your lymph nodes are likely to have cancer cells. It involves using a blue dye or magnetic liquid to identify the lymph nodes.
After your surgery, you will need to take painkillers and practice arm and shoulder exercises to prevent stiffness. You can expect to feel sore and tired for several weeks. You’ll also have regular follow-up appointments with your doctor, where they will assess your condition and provide you with your test results.
Radiation therapy uses high-powered beams of energy, such as X-rays or protons, to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. It may be used after lumpectomy or mastectomy, or in conjunction with breast-conserving surgery and chemotherapy. It can also be given before surgery to reduce the size of a large tumor or reduce the risk that it will return. Radiation can cause side effects such as fatigue and a red, sunburn-like rash at the site of the radiation. More serious side effects are rare and depend on the amount of radiation you receive.
Your doctor will recommend the type of radiation treatment that is best for you based on the type and stage of your tumor, its location within your breast, whether it is sensitive to hormones and other factors. Your medical history and your preferences will also play a role in this decision.
You may also need a biopsy of your lymph nodes. Breast cancer cells often spread to nearby lymph nodes before they grow into a large tumor. By removing and analyzing lymph nodes from under your arm (the axillary lymph nodes) before or after surgery, doctors can learn whether your cancer is likely to spread to these nodes and other parts of the body.
Your medical team will include a surgeon, oncologist, plastic surgeon and other specialists. They will use the information from tests and your discussions to determine what breast cancer treatment is right for you. For most people, breast cancer treatment includes both surgery and other types of treatment. These additional treatments are called adjuvant therapies. They help prevent the cancer from coming back after surgery and improve survival and quality of life.
Chemotherapy is a treatment that uses drugs to kill cancer cells and reduce the chance that breast cancer will return. It is usually given in combination with surgery or other treatments, such as radiation or hormonal therapy. It is used to decrease the chances that cancer will recur after surgery, to help shrink tumors before surgery or to control metastatic cancer that has spread beyond the breast to other parts of the body.
When you have chemotherapy, the drugs enter your bloodstream and travel throughout your body to kill cancer cells. These drugs may be injected or taken by mouth. Your doctor will choose a chemotherapy drug or combination of drugs that are most likely to work for you.
Many anti-cancer drugs have side effects, but your doctors will try to keep them as mild as possible. The type of drug you receive will determine what side effects you might have.
Some women have a very good response to chemotherapy, which means that all of the cancer cells die and can’t be found on scans or other tests. This is sometimes called a complete response or no evidence of disease.
If your cancer is hormone receptor positive or HER2-positive, you might need hormonal therapy after chemotherapy to decrease the chance that the cancer will come back. This may include taking tamoxifen or a drug known as an aromatase inhibitor.
You may get chemotherapy in a clinic or hospital, but many people take it at home, and it’s becoming more common. When you take the medicine at home, it’s important to follow your doctor’s schedule exactly. If you forget a dose, contact your doctor right away.
Hormone therapy is a cancer treatment that reduces your risk of recurrence by blocking access to hormones that encourage certain types of cancer to grow. Your doctor may use this therapy to treat a breast tumor that has receptors for the naturally occurring hormones estrogen and progesterone, or to reduce the growth of hormone-sensitive cancers that have spread to other parts of the body (metastasized).
Your cancer diagnosis determines whether or not hormone therapy is a good option for you. This is based on several factors, including: whether or not your tumor has estrogen and progesterone receptors; how fast your tumor grows; and the results of a human epidermal growth factor type 2 receptor test (HER2/neu), which measures how many HER2/neu genes and how much HER2/neu protein is made in a sample of your cancerous tissue.
Some forms of hormone therapy work by attaching to the estrogen-shaped openings on cancer cells and blocking their ability to receive the hormones; others reduce the amount of hormone produced in the body, depriving cancer cells of their food source. Tamoxifen, for example, is a hormone blocker that’s taken as a pill daily and has been used for more than 60 years. It can be given before surgery to shrink a tumor or in combination with other cancer treatments, such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy.
Aromatase inhibitors are another type of hormone-reducing therapy. They are usually given to post-menopausal women whose ovaries no longer produce estrogen. These drugs are often given with fulvestrant, an oestrogen receptor down-regulator that’s given as a monthly injection. Together, these drugs can decrease your risk of cancer coming back by more than 50% in post-menopausal women with HER2-negative, hormone receptor positive metastatic breast cancer.
Biological therapy uses medications to treat cancer by targeting specific genes or proteins that are important for cell growth. These drugs are given through a vein (intravenously) or in pill form and can be used to treat a variety of different types of cancers.
Most healthy cells grow and divide as the body needs them, but occasionally cancerous cells develop mutations that cause them to grow and divide without control or order. These abnormal cells often invade and damage nearby tissues and organs, forming a mass of tissue called a tumor. Usually, these abnormal cells are eventually destroyed by the immune system or die as they age. However, sometimes a cancerous cell is not killed and keeps growing and dividing uncontrollably, forming new cancer cells that can also spread to other parts of the body.
Some targeted cancer drugs work by blocking the formation of blood vessels that help cancer cells grow and spread. These drugs are called angiogenesis inhibitors. One example is bevacizumab (Avastin), which prevents a tumor from making its own blood vessels so it cannot get a supply of nutrients and grows smaller.
Another type of targeted drug works by helping the immune system find and destroy cancerous cells. These drugs are called immunotherapy agents and may be combined with other chemotherapy treatments, or given by itself. Some examples of immunotherapy include interferon-alfa and ibrutinib. These medications are currently being tested in clinical trials to see how well they can treat various types of breast cancer.
Cancer forms when healthy cells in the breast change and grow out of control. This can form a lump in the breast tissue. It may also spread to other parts of the body.
The most common type of breast cancer starts in cells that line milk ducts and lobules. This type is called invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC).
Invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) makes up about 80% of all breast cancers. It starts in the milk-carrying ducts in your breast or nipple and grows into surrounding tissue. This is the most common type of cancer, affecting most people over 50.
Scientists think IDC occurs because of changes, or mutations, in the DNA of your breast cells. These mutations cause the cells to grow and divide too fast and form a tumor. The tumor may then spread to nearby tissues or lymph nodes, forming more cancer and growing out of control. IDC can also grow into the bloodstream and travel to other parts of the body, causing metastatic breast cancer.
Some people have a very mild form of this cancer that can’t be felt as a lump. Others have more advanced disease that can be felt as a lump or lumps in the breast. If IDC isn’t treated early, it can spread to other areas of the body and become a much more serious form of cancer.
IDC can be diagnosed with mammograms and other tests such as ultrasound and MRI. If the doctor finds a suspicious area, they will use a needle to remove a small sample of tissue from the tumor or lump for biopsy. They will then test these samples to confirm the diagnosis of IDC.
Invasive ductal carcinoma is usually treated with surgery or a mastectomy. Other types of treatment include radiation therapy, chemotherapy and hormone therapy. Whether these treatments are right for you depends on many different factors, including your age, how big the cancer is and its stage. You should discuss your treatment options with your medical team.
Mucinous carcinoma is an uncommon histologic subtype of breast cancer. It occurs in postmenopausal women and is typically diagnosed in the later stages of the disease. Mucinous carcinoma is characterized by abundant extracellular mucin production, which results in a gelatinous appearance on gross pathologic examination and on MRI. Mucinous carcinomas may be pure or mixed, with pure tumors having a more favorable prognosis than mixed tumors. The most common complication of mucinous carcinoma is metastasis to the axillary lymph nodes.
Like ductal carcinoma, mucinous carcinoma grows and presses on normal tissue but doesn’t invade it. This type of tumor also has well-defined edges and doesn’t produce calcifications, which are calcium deposits that appear as white specks on imaging tests. This makes mucinous carcinoma easier to diagnose than other types of breast cancer, especially those that are invasive and spread quickly.
A mammogram or a CT scan can show mucinous carcinoma, but the doctor will need to do a biopsy to confirm the diagnosis. To perform a biopsy, the doctor makes a small incision or uses a needle to extract tissue samples from the doubtful area. The doctor will then examine the samples under a microscope.
Because mucinous carcinoma is less aggressive than other types of breast cancer, doctors can offer better treatment options. They include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. These treatments help the cancer cells die and prevent them from spreading to other parts of the body. Other ways to reduce the risk of mucinous carcinoma include eating a healthy diet, maintaining a normal weight and practicing safe sex. Talk to your doctor about these and other prevention strategies. They can help you develop a plan that works best for you.
This is a slow-growing cancer that usually doesn’t cause symptoms. It’s more common in women younger than 40. It starts in the cells that line your milk ducts. Sometimes the cells make copies of themselves with errors, and these extra cells grow out of control, forming tumors.
Your doctor may find papillary thyroid carcinoma during a physical exam or during a routine breast screening. It’s also possible that you’ll have a lump in the front of your neck (thyroid nodule). A CT scan may show a small, round or oval mass. Your doctor may also feel it to see if it’s hard or firm.
You’ll need a physical exam, and your doctor will ask you questions about your family history of cancer and any health problems you have. You’ll have a mammogram and a chest X-ray. Your doctor may also order a blood test to check your hormone levels, such as estrogen and progesterone.
A biopsy will be done to confirm the diagnosis. During the biopsy, your doctor will remove some of the cancerous tissue and a surrounding margin of healthy tissue. Your doctor will also check for signs of cancer in nearby lymph nodes in your neck. Cancer that spreads to lymph nodes in your neck is called metastasis.
Some types of papillary thyroid carcinoma use the hormone oestrogen to grow, so they’re known as oestrogen receptor positive (ER+). Hormone therapy can prevent oestrogen from helping these cancers grow. However, some types of PTMC don’t use oestrogen. These are known as oestrogen receptor negative (ER-). In these cases, hormone therapy won’t be helpful.
Most PTMC doesn’t spread to other parts of the body, so surgery and radiation therapy might be enough. Your doctor may also prescribe bone-strengthening medications (bisphosphonates) to help prevent the cancer from coming back or spreading to your bones.
This is a subtype of invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). It gets its name from the tube-shaped structures inside the tumor cells. Tubular carcinomas are usually less aggressive than other IDC types and are much less likely to spread beyond the breast tissue.
These tumors often grow very slowly. Because of this, they are often spotted only through regular mammograms. When they do cause symptoms, they are generally felt as a small and hard lump in the center of the breast. Tubular carcinomas can also show up on ultrasound as spiculated masses with a fuzzy outline and possibly calcifications.
On a mammogram, tubular carcinomas look white and have ill-defined borders. They are typically accompanied by a cellular desmoplastic stroma. Tubular carcinomas are usually estrogen receptor-positive and HER2-negative. They can be found alone or mixed with other histologic subtypes, including cribriform, type A mucinous and flat epithelial atypia.
The outlook for people with tubular carcinoma is excellent compared to the outlook for other IDC types, especially when it is diagnosed early. This is largely because tubular carcinomas are more often picked up by routine mammograms, and people who attend regular screenings are more likely to be diagnosed with this type of cancer when it is in its early stages.
Tumors of this type are also very responsive to hormonal treatment. Because of this, women with tubular carcinoma are often prescribed tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors. These medications block the actions of estrogen and progesterone to prevent the growth of breast cancer cells. These treatments are given as pills or injections. When used in combination with surgery, these treatments can be very effective at reducing the chances of the cancer returning.
Cribriform carcinoma is a rare type of breast cancer. It’s most common in older women. It’s less likely to spread than other types of breast cancer, and it grows slower. It’s usually found during routine breast screening and is rarely diagnosed in men.
Cribriform tumors have a distinctive architectural pattern of contiguous glandular spaces without intervening stroma. This architecture may prevent cell access to blood vessels and result in increased hypoxia. The low oxygen levels associated with cribriform carcinoma are also linked to its prognosis and increased susceptibility to distant metastasis.
A biopsy of a cribriform breast cancer is often the first diagnostic test, and it’s sometimes the only way to diagnose invasive cribriform carcinoma. Your doctor will usually recommend surgery to remove the cancer and some surrounding tissue. The type of surgery you’ll need depends on where your cancer is and how big it is.
Your doctor may also recommend chemotherapy or radiation to reduce the chance that your cancer will return. This is especially important if you’re premenopausal, since you have a higher risk of developing another invasive or in situ breast cancer in the future.
Your treatment team can tell you more about the pros and cons of these treatments. They’ll also help you decide if you’re a good candidate for targeted therapy, which uses drugs to stop cancer cells from growing and spreading. They can also tell you if you’re a good candidate to take bisphosphonates, which can reduce the risk of breast cancer spreading in postmenopausal women. You can get these drugs from your doctor or from a pharmacy. You should also discuss any family history of breast or ovarian cancer with your doctor before starting treatment.