Breast cancer comes in a wide variety of forms. Your treatment plan for breast cancer will be based on what your doctor learns from looking at your tumor. This includes how far the disease has spread and what kind of tissue it started in.
Most breast cancers are adenocarcinomas. Most of the time, these kinds of tumors start in glands or ducts that let fluid out. They can also be found in a wide range of other common cancers. Adenocarcinomas start in the lobules and ducts of the mammary glands, which are in charge of making milk.
Invasive ductal carcinoma, invasive lobular carcinoma, inflammatory breast cancer, Paget’s disease of the breast, angiosarcoma of the breast, phyllodes tumors, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS), HER2 status, triple-negative breast cancer, metastatic breast cancer, breast cancer in men, and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) are just some of the subtypes of breast cancer.
Invasive VS Non-Invasive Breast Cancer
There are two primary types of breast cancer: invasive and non-invasive. While some expand slowly yet steadily, others spread rapidly. How dangerous a tumor depends on its biology, size, stage, and other characteristics. But inflammatory breast cancer and angiosarcoma of the breast are often more dangerous than ductal carcinoma in situ, lobular carcinoma in situ, or phyllodes tumors.
Triple-negative breast cancer and inflammatory breast cancer are two types that are more likely to return after therapy. Some of the things that might affect the likelihood of a recurrence are the size of the first tumor, whether or not it spread to the lymph nodes, and whether or not it had hormone receptors.
How Many Different Types of Invasive Breast Cancer Are There?
Most breast cancers are invasive, which means that they have spread from where they started into nearby tissue, lymph nodes, or other organs. When breast cancer cells invade normal breast tissue, they may travel to other organs through the blood and lymphatic systems. The most common types of invasive breast cancer are invasive ductal carcinoma and invasive lobular carcinoma.
Cancer of the Ducts, Invasive
IDC says that invasive ductal carcinoma is the most common type of breast cancer, making up between 70 and 80% of all cases. IDC is a type of breast cancer that begins in the milk ducts and spreads to other areas of the breast. Over time, it might potentially metastasize to other organs.
Lobular Carcinoma With Invading Metastases
The number of cases of invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is between 5 and 10% of all breast cancer cases, making it the second most common type of breast cancer. ILC can spread to other parts of the breast if it starts in the lobules, which are the structures that make breast milk. Just like invasive ductal carcinoma, this one has the potential to spread. But, unlike IDC, this cancer is less likely to be found through regular screening. In 20% of ILC patients, both breasts are affected.
Cancer of the breast that has been triggered by inflammation
Even though inflammatory breast cancer can be found in the ducts or lobules, it is known to spread more quickly than other types of breast cancer. One to five percent of breast cancers are diagnosed as this fast-growing, aggressive form of the disease.
Inflammatory symptoms include redness and edema of the breasts. It’s often misunderstood as a breast infection because of these symptoms. One-third of people with this kind of cancer do not get a diagnosis until cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
Breast Paget’s Disease
Paget’s disease of the breast, also known as Paget’s disease of the nipple, is an extremely rare form of breast cancer. About 1–4% of women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer also have this subtype. It forms in the skin around the breasts and creates Paget cells, which are a rare kind of tumor. Forms of breast cancer that do not spread outside of the body (known as “non-invasive” or “invasive)
Cancer cells that are “in situ” do not invade neighboring tissues or lymph nodes, and they stay put in their original breast site rather than moving to other lobules or ducts. In situ breast cancer is a type of invasive breast cancer that hasn’t spread beyond the milk ducts or lobules. Ductal carcinoma and lobular carcinoma are the two forms of in situ cancer.
Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS): What Does it Mean?
DCIS accounts for around 20% of all breast cancer diagnoses. The first sign of DCIS is the development of a lump within a milk duct, the tube that transports milk from the lobules or glands to the nipple. Diffuse cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (DCIS) has not metastasized. With time, there is a greater chance that the mass will grow outside of the ductal walls and into the surrounding tissue and fat of the breast. However, with developments in detection and therapy, the prognosis for people diagnosed with DCIS, also known as stage 0 breast cancer, is generally optimistic.
Atypical Lobular Cancer In Situ (LCIS)
A low-grade invasive squamous cell in the breast (LCIS) is not strictly a kind of breast cancer. Milk is made by tens of thousands of microscopic lobules in the breast. Cancer-like cells might form within these lobules. There is usually no further dissemination of LCIS after it has established itself.
However, your healthcare team may choose to keep tabs on you if they suspect anything is up because of the higher risk of invasive breast cancer that comes with a diagnosis of LCIS.
Methods for assessing the condition of hormone receptors?
Genomic research has led to a more precise way to divide breast tumors into subtypes, with each subtype having its own set of genes and proteins that define it. For example, estrogen positivity accounts for 60% of breast cancers, whereas 20% are HER2-positive and another 20% are triple-negative.
Hormone-Receptor Standing
If breast cancer cells have hormone receptors or not, this shows if the cells can connect to estrogen and progesterone and respond to them. When a patient has a biopsy or surgery to remove breast cancer cells, the cells are sent to a lab to be tested for their hormone-receptor status.
Breast cancers that are “hormone receptor-positive” are those in which the presence of the hormones estrogen (“ER-positive”) and progesterone (“PR-positive”) stimulates the proliferation of cancerous cells. It is called a “receptor-negative” malignancy if the tumor cells lack them. These tumors progress more rapidly than hormone receptor-positive malignancies.
Inhibiting hormone attachment in hormone receptor-positive malignancies may help prevent the disease from spreading; therefore, the receptor status of a tumor is an important consideration in breast cancer treatment. Numerous novel medications are in this field as a consequence of clinical studies.
A Definition of HER2 Status
The levels of a growth-promoting protein called HER2 in cancer cells may also classify breast cancer as HER2-positive or HER2-negative. HER2-positive breast tumors have high levels of the HER2 protein and tend to spread more quickly than other types of breast cancer. However, they may be treatable with drugs that specifically target the HER2 protein.
HER2-negative cancers are resistant to standard treatment. About 15 to 20% of invasive breast tumors are positive for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2).
A cancer is called “triple-negative” if it does not have either hormone receptors or HER2. Usually, they develop and disperse rapidly. This illness affects younger women, women with African roots, and women with a change in the BRCA-1 gene more than other women.
Tri-Negativity in Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is classified as “Triple-Negative” when none of these three proteins are expressed by the tumor. Triple-negative breast cancer accounts for around 15% of invasive breast cancers.
Younger women are more affected by this malignancy. If a woman has a change in the BRCA1 gene, she is more likely to get triple-negative breast cancer. Cancer of the breast has spread to other parts of the body.
At stage 4, breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body is called metastatic. The presence of cancer cells in the liver does not constitute a diagnosis of liver cancer but rather of breast cancer that has spread to the liver.
Lymph nodes aren’t the only place these cancer cells may go; the lungs, brain, and bones are popular destinations as well. Metastatic breast cancer can be found at the same time as the primary tumor or months or years later.
Patients with metastatic breast cancer must keep getting treatment for the rest of their lives, even though many other cancer patients have good outcomes and show no signs of illness or recurrence. Reducing the disease’s spread while improving the patient’s quality of life is the objective.
Male Breast Cancer
Almost every cell in the body has the potential to turn into a cancerous cell. Breast cancer is more common in women, but it may also affect men since they have breast tissue. It is estimated that men account for one of every hundred cases of breast cancer. Males are just as likely to develop invasive ductal carcinoma or invasive lobular carcinoma as females. If a man has a mutation in the BRCA2 gene or a family history of breast cancer, his risk of getting the disease goes up. Research the gender differences and commonalities of this disease.
