Breast cancer is a disease that can affect many parts of your life. It’s important to understand your treatment options and ask questions.
In a healthy body, natural systems control the growth and death of cells. Cancer develops when these systems don’t work right.
Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer diagnosed in women. It can occur in one or both of the breasts, or in the lining surrounding the breasts (the lobes). In some cases, it may spread to other parts of the body such as the bones, lungs, liver, or lymph nodes. There are many risk factors for this disease. However, most risk factors only increase your chance of developing cancer by a small amount above what’s normal for the general population. Some people with several risk factors never develop breast cancer.
Most of the time, scientists don’t know what causes cancer. But some do have a good understanding of what can make a person more likely to get the disease. Risk factors include age, family history, a woman’s menstrual cycle and reproductive history, alcohol use and exposure to radiation, and a woman’s hormone use (such as the use of estrogen and/or postmenopausal hormone therapy).
Inherited genetic mutations in certain genes are linked with an increased risk of breast cancer, including BRCA1 and BRCA2. The risk is higher if the woman has the gene mutation on both sides of her family.
Other genetic mutations that increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer are TP53, PALB2, MAP2K4, and CDH1. These genetic mutations only increase the chance of developing breast cancer by a small amount above what’s typical.
Some lifestyle and environmental factors can also increase a person’s risk of breast cancer, such as eating too much meat or dairy, being overweight, drinking too much alcohol, not exercising enough, and using hormones such as premenopausal estrogen or postmenopausal hormonal therapies. Having a baby later in life can also increase the risk of breast cancer.
Generally, more affluent women in all racial and ethnic groups are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than less affluent women in those same groups. This is likely due to differences in diet, pregnancy factors like the number and age of children, and socioeconomic factors influencing access to health care. Currently, research is focusing on screening, chemoprevention and biological prevention with drugs such as Herceptin and PD1/PDL1 inhibitors to prevent or delay the recurrence of breast cancer after treatment.
Breast cancer develops when cells in the breast grow and multiply out of control. They may start to form a mass or lump, and can also spread to other parts of the body. The most common type of breast cancer is invasive ductal carcinoma, which forms when cancerous cells enter the milk ducts and surrounding tissue. It causes the most symptoms, but it can be hard to detect at an early stage. This is why it’s important to go for regular screening.
Most women who have invasive ductal carcinoma feel a lump, although a lump isn’t always the first sign of breast cancer. Other signs include a change in the shape or size of your nipple, pain, or unusual nipple discharge, which can be clear, pinkish, bloody, or sticky. If you notice any of these symptoms, see your GP as soon as possible. They will examine your breasts and arrange to have tests to find out whether or not you have breast cancer.
You’re more likely to have a lump than you are to experience other symptoms, but it’s important to get any new breast-related symptom checked by your GP, even if it’s not painful or there’s no lump. If you do have a lump, your GP will refer you to a specialist breast cancer clinic for further tests.
Some types of breast cancer don’t cause any symptoms and are only detected by mammography or ultrasound scans. Lobular carcinoma in situ, which starts in the milk-producing cells of the breast, is a non-invasive cancer and only affects a small number of women. It’s a type of pre-cancerous condition and can increase your risk of developing other types of invasive breast cancer.
There are other types of breast cancer that can cause symptoms, but they’re much less common. These include triple-negative breast cancer, which doesn’t produce the HER2 protein that helps some other types of breast cancer respond to hormone treatment. It’s also possible to have papillary carcinoma of the breast, which can cause pain or a prickly feeling in the nipple. Finally, there’s cribriform carcinoma of the breast, which invades the connective tissues of the breast.
The only sure way to diagnose breast cancer is to have a biopsy. A biopsy is when a doctor takes a small sample of cells from a suspicious area in the body so they can be examined under a microscope to see if there are any cancer cells. After a biopsy, doctors can tell whether or not you have breast cancer and what type it is.
Doctors may start by doing tests to find out if the cancer has spread outside the breast and the lymph nodes under your arm (see the Staging guide). If it has, this is called metastatic disease.
If you have a suspicious lump or finding on one or both of your breasts, your doctor will probably order an ultrasound and possibly a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. These are non-invasive and painless. The ultrasound and MRI are done to check the structure of the breast and surrounding tissues, and they can help your doctor decide what treatment might be best for you.
Your doctor may also do a blood test called a complete blood count (CBC) to check your general health and make sure you don’t have an infection that could cause the abnormalities they are noticing. Other blood tests that can be used to check for cancer include a tumor marker test and a blood chemistry test.
There are many different types of biopsies, and the type your doctor does will depend on the location of the mass or calcification and if it is palpable or non-palpable. A needle biopsy, also called a fine needle aspiration (FNA), uses a thin needle to draw out fluid or tissue from a lump and can be done under local anesthesia. A core needle biopsy or a surgical biopsy, which involves removing the mass and any abnormal calcifications under local anesthesia, are more extensive and can be done with a surgeon. Your doctor may do a stereotactic biopsy, which is done using mammography to help guide the needle, or a vacuum-assisted biopsy.
Other tests can be done to see if your cancer is hormone-receptor positive or HER2-positive. These tests can tell your doctor how aggressive the tumour is and which treatments might work best for you.
Breast cancer happens when the natural systems that control the creation and death of cells become abnormal. This leads to uncontrolled cell growth, forming a tumor. It can also spread (metastasize) to other parts of the body, where it may grow and cause new symptoms.
When a person is diagnosed with breast cancer, doctors start treatment to get rid of the tumor and keep it from coming back. Doctors use several different kinds of treatment, including surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and hormone therapy. They also may recommend other treatments, such as biologic therapy and hormonotherapy.
The treatment that is recommended depends on what kind of cancer a woman has and how far it has spread. People with early breast cancer, such as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and early-stage invasive breast cancer, often have surgery first. This is usually followed by systemic therapy.
Systemic therapy refers to taking medicines that circulate through the bloodstream to destroy cancer cells throughout the body. These medicines are usually given in pill form or by vein, and they may be given before or after surgery.
In some cases, doctors may use a combination of surgery and systemic therapy to treat breast cancer. This is called neoadjuvant therapy, and it can help to reduce the chances of cancer recurrence in the future.
Sometimes cancerous cells can spread from the breast to lymph nodes under the arm (in the axillary node bed) or to other parts of the body, where they may develop into new symptoms. If a person has advanced breast cancer, these cells may also travel to other organs, such as the lungs and liver.
For some women with breast cancer, the cancer can spread without being able to be seen or felt (invasive or metastatic breast cancer). If this is the case, doctors need to use more aggressive treatments, such as hormone therapy and radiation therapy.
Some alternative or complementary methods are claimed to help reduce the risk of breast cancer or relieve symptoms from treatment, but they haven’t been scientifically tested. These approaches may include vitamins, herbs and diets, as well as acupuncture and massage. Talk with your doctor before trying any of these.
In healthy breasts, natural systems control the creation and growth of cells. Cancer happens when these systems are disrupted.
Symptoms include a lump in the breast, nipple skin that looks like orange peel or is red and painful, dimpling of the breast or nipple area, and new nipple discharge that’s bloody or clear to yellow or green.
Breast cancer cells can irritate the tissue surrounding the breast, causing it to swell. This may be due to the formation of a tumor or it may be caused by the cancer spreading to nearby lymph nodes, as well as to other organs in the body such as the lungs or liver.
Swelling may be the only symptom or it can be combined with other symptoms such as pain, changes in nipple function or a lump. Breast and nipple pain, especially if it is sudden and severe, is not common but should be reported to your doctor. Breast and nipple discharge that is bloody or unusual in color, texture or smell, and pulling or tightness of the breast and nipple are also symptoms to report to your doctor.
Some types of breast cancer can cause one or both breasts to swell. This is called inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). It may be due to an infection of the milk-producing tissue of the nipple (mastitis) or it can be a sign of cancer in other ways such as fat necrosis or phyllodes tumors.
The swollen area of the breast can feel hard or firm and may be different in size than the other breast. It may also be tender and itchy. This type of swelling usually happens quickly and may not be related to your menstrual cycle. Other signs of IBC include swollen lymph nodes under your arm and near your collar bone, as well as a change in the appearance of the skin of your chest or nipple (such as dimpling, pitting, scales or puckering) or a feeling that the nipple is being pulled inward.
Even if your cancer has been treated, you can still get the disease again. Cancer that has spread to other areas of the body (metastasized) can cause new cancer-related symptoms in those sites such as pain, nipple discharge and a lump in the opposite breast. The most likely places for metastatic cancer to occur are in the lungs and bones although it can occur in other parts of the body as well.
Pain isn’t a common symptom of breast cancer. When it does occur, it is usually the first sign that a lump is present. Cancer cells multiply out of control, growing into a mass that can cause pain.
Inflammation, a prickly feeling and redness are also breast cancer symptoms that can cause pain. The type of pain you feel will depend on the type of breast cancer you have, and will be different for everyone. For example, if you have a breast cyst (or fibroadenoma) or a lobular carcinoma, pain is usually caused by a lump in the tissue and may be more painful than other types of tumors.
Breast pain is also a symptom of advanced stages of cancer, particularly invasive ductal carcinoma, which makes up around 90% of all cases. In these stages, the cancer has most likely spread to one or more lymph nodes under the armpit and has damaged breast tissue. This can lead to a lump or pain in the affected breast and a change to the shape of your nipple, such as it looking flatter or caved in or a bloody or muddy discharge from one or both nipples.
Other signs of breast cancer that can cause pain include a swollen nipple and nipple soreness. This can be caused by pregnancy or breastfeeding, as well as certain breast conditions such as a cyst, infection or mastitis. You should always seek medical care for breast pain that is accompanied by any other symptoms.
Even if you have had a biopsy and treatment for breast cancer, you can still experience pain. This is because some cancer treatments can cause side effects that affect your whole body, such as nerve damage that causes pain in the arms and chest wall or a feeling of pins and needles in the hands and feet called peripheral neuropathy.
Breast cancer can also come back long after treatment, which is known as recurrence. Recurrence can happen in the same breast or in lymph nodes close to the original cancer, or it can occur elsewhere in the body, such as the lungs or liver. If cancer recurs, it can cause pain, nipple discharge or a lump or thickening of the breast or chest wall.
A nipple discharge that’s clear or bloody can be a warning sign of certain cancers, especially if it happens in only one breast and is spontaneous. This type of discharge can be due to cancer cells that have invaded the milk ducts. It also can be a sign of non-cancerous growths called papillomas, which often cause a bloody discharge.
However, this discharge is usually not a sign of invasive ductal carcinoma, which occurs when cancerous tissue grows out of the milk ducts and invades other breast tissue. This is the most common type of breast cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer, which can be hard to diagnose and treat, can cause a different type of nipple discharge. This can be a pink, reddish purple or bruised color and has a pitted appearance, like the skin of an orange (called peau d’orange). These signs are caused by fluid buildup from blocked lymph vessels. They may also include a lump or hardening of the nipple area, pain and changes in nipple shape and position.
The most common symptom of papillary carcinoma is a lump that can be felt by your healthcare provider during a physical exam or during a self-breast examination. Some women also may have a mass under the nipple or in the armpit. Others have a lump or thickening of the nipple, nipple inversion, or a rash or changes in nipple texture and shape.
Other types of cancers that can affect the nipple include papillary, tubal and lobular carcinomas. These kinds of cancers can spread to the lymph nodes in your armpit or under your collarbone. These can also cause swelling of the breast, nipple or armpit.
A nipple rash that is scaly and itchy can be a sign of Paget disease of the nipple, a rare cancer that affects about 1-2% of people with breast cancer. It’s a condition that appears as a raised, scaly lesion on the nipple or areola and can sometimes be spread to the other nipples. The nipple rash is usually not painful and doesn’t hurt, but it can be hard to get rid of.
Many benign breast conditions can cause symptoms that resemble those of cancer. Some of these are easy to distinguish from cancer, but others are not. For example, a cyst (fluid-filled sac) in the breast is not a sign of cancer, but it may be caused by an infection or a condition such as mastitis. The same is true for a swollen lymph node in the armpit, which could also be due to an infection or another, unrelated illness. Other breast changes that can look and feel like breast cancer include a lump or area of thickening in the breast; nipple discharge that is clear, bloody, or another color; and a change in the shape or contour of your breast.
Breast changes are common and often are no cause for concern, but a sudden or significant change in the size of one or both breasts is a sign of cancer that requires evaluation by your doctor. A mammogram is the most accurate way to assess breast changes, but if you notice a change in the size of your breasts or any other breast-related issue, you should make an appointment with your doctor right away.
Your doctor will do a physical exam of your breasts and armpits and will examine your nipples to see whether they are tender or swollen. Your doctor will also order an imaging test, such as a mammogram or ultrasound, to see whether the suspicious area is caused by a lump or other abnormal tissue.
Some breast changes are normal and may occur due to hormones, such as those that occur during pregnancy when breast glands increase in number and size making the breasts feel lumpy or swollen. Other changes can be due to menopause when fatty tissue is lost and the breasts can become smaller, lumpy and tender. Still other breast changes can be the result of medications you take for hormone therapy or birth control.
Breast changes that can be signs of cancer include a lump or area of thickening that is painful or that doesn’t go away; a lump or mass that feels hard and solid; pain in the breast, underarm, or armpit; nipple discharge that is bloody or other color; and a change in the appearance or texture of the skin on your breasts and nipples, such as dimpling, puckering, redness or scaliness.
Breast Cancer treatment includes surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Medications used in treatment come as tablets or liquid to inject into a vein or take by mouth.
Radiation may include skin-sparing surgery or a nipple-sparing mastectomy and removing only the lymph nodes under the arm (sentinel node biopsy). The surgeon uses a dye or radioactive tracer to find a sentinel lymph node first, which helps avoid removing too many lymph nodes.
If the cancer has not spread beyond a local area of the breast, surgery may be able to remove it completely. The surgeon may also be able to take a small sample of the surrounding tissue (called a margin) and test it for microscopic cancer cells. This can help reduce the chances that the cancer will return.
Your doctor will talk to you about your options for surgery, such as a lumpectomy or a mastectomy. You will also learn about breast reconstruction, which is the process of making a new breast that looks as much like your old one as possible. Reconstruction can be done at the same time as your mastectomy or can be delayed.
In some cases, doctors recommend chemotherapy before surgery to shrink a tumor and make it easier to remove with surgery. Chemotherapy is also used after surgery to decrease the chance that the cancer will recur. It is given through your bloodstream and reaches cancer cells throughout the body. You may have side effects from the drugs, such as hair loss or nausea and vomiting.
If your cancer is sensitive to hormones, your doctor may recommend hormonal therapy before or after surgery and/or radiation treatment to decrease the chance that it will recur. Hormonal therapy is given for 3 to 6 months and may be continued after surgery as well. It is called adjuvant hormonal therapy.
You may need to stay at a hospital or surgical center for a short period of time after your surgery, depending on the type of procedure you have. Before you have surgery, ask your doctor for suggestions for finding a good surgeon and anesthesia provider. You can also ask for recommendations from friends and family. If you have insurance, compare the costs of different hospitals and surgical centers. Also ask about the percentage of your care that your health insurance covers.
Radiation therapy uses high doses of radiation to kill cancer cells and reduce the chance that the cancer will return. It is often given with surgery, after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, or in combination with other treatments such as hormone therapy.
Your radiation oncologist will use imaging, such as a CT scan, PET scan or MRI to help plan your treatment and determine where the tumor is located within the breast. Then, a machine directs beams of radiation toward the area. The doses of radiation are much higher in the tumor than in healthy tissue nearby. This is why doctors shape the beams of radiation from several angles to spare as much healthy tissue as possible.
During radiation sessions, you will lie on a table or other surface and remain still for several minutes while the machine delivers the doses of radiation. During the session, you may be able to hear and talk with the members of your treatment team. Some people feel sleepy or groggy during this time. If you are uncomfortable, let your treatment team know.
In some cases, you may need to have additional surgeries in addition to a lumpectomy. These are called a partial mastectomy, a mastectomy with conservation of the lymph nodes or a mastectomy with removal of some of the surrounding tissue, also called a quadrantectomy. These operations can lower the risk of local recurrence of breast cancer.
After a lumpectomy, you might need to have radiation to the remaining breast tissue and the lymph nodes under the arm (sentinel nodes). This can lower the chances that the cancer will spread to those nodes. The radiation is usually given 3 to 5 days a week for 3 to 5 weeks. You will likely have some skin changes that can be dry, itchy, swollen or blistered in the area where the radiation is given. These are called side effects of radiation. They usually peak 2 weeks after the last treatment and then begin to improve.
In rare cases, long-term side effects can occur months or even years after your treatment is completed. These are called late side effects and can affect any tissue that was exposed to radiation. The gonads are especially sensitive to radiation and may not be able to produce gametes after exposure. Careful treatment planning and use of low doses can limit the amount of radiation received by the gonads.
Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer drugs to destroy cancer cells and stop them from growing. The drugs can be given through a tube placed in a vein (intravenous, or IV) or by pill or liquid that you swallow (orally). Most people receive chemotherapy after surgery to destroy any cancer cells that may remain. This is called adjuvant therapy. You may also get systemic therapy before surgery to shrink a large tumor, which makes it easier for the surgeon to remove the tumor. This is called neoadjuvant therapy.
Some doctors use neoadjuvant therapy for certain women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer or triple-negative breast cancer to reduce the chance that their cancer will return after surgery. This type of therapy may also help to reduce the risk that a distant recurrence will occur.
The doctors who specialize in giving chemotherapy are called medical oncologists. They will make a plan with you that specifies when you will have treatments, how long they will last, and how many treatment sessions you will need. They will recommend a specific drug or combination of drugs to treat your cancer. They will also discuss if you are a candidate for a clinical trial.
Clinical trials are research studies that test whether a new approach to treating disease is safe and effective. They may include tests to predict your chances of recurrence and whether you are likely to respond to a particular therapy. They may be used alone or in combination with standard therapies.
Most people who have cancer experience side effects. These can range from mild to severe. Nausea and vomiting are common and can be controlled with medicine. Other side effects depend on the type and dose of drugs you receive.
Ask your health care team to explain the side effects of chemotherapy before you start treatment and about ways to help prevent or manage them. Your doctor can suggest a way for you to carry out your regular daily activities during treatment and how to plan ahead. For example, you may want to arrange for someone to drive you to appointments or look after your children, or you may need to take time off work. If you are planning to have children in the future, talk with your doctor about how chemo might affect your ability to have them.
Using medicines to attack specific parts of cancer cells that drive growth and change. These targeted therapies are more effective than standard treatment and less harmful to normal cells. They are usually given with chemotherapy.
Your doctor may order tests to find out what targets your cancer has. They may also test your body to see if it can handle these treatments before they give them to you. These tests are called molecular or genetic testing and can be done with a blood sample taken during your visit.
Targeted therapy involves the use of biological drugs, also known as biologics. These are proteins made by special white blood cells (called lymphocytes) that attack cancer cells. The antibodies can be made in a laboratory and given to you as medicine.
These medicines bind to cancer cells and stop them from growing or dividing, which can make them die. They can be used alone or with other types of treatments such as radiation or surgery. These drugs have different side effects, but they are usually not as bad as those from chemotherapy. Some of the most common side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, and feeling tired. These medications are usually given as pills or an injection in the office.
Hormonal therapy is an important treatment for tumors that test positive for estrogen and progesterone receptors (called ER and PR). These are called hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers. This type of breast cancer tends to grow quickly and spread into other organs such as the lungs and liver.
The HER2-targeted drugs, which are called monoclonal antibodies, block the signals that cancer cells need to grow. They can be used alone or with other treatments such as chemotherapy or hormonal therapy. These drugs have serious but less severe side effects such as rashes, flu-like symptoms, and changes in weight.
Other types of targeted cancer treatments are in the process of being tested in clinical trials. Some of them can be used as neoadjuvant therapy, which means they are given before surgery to shrink the tumor and reduce the chances of recurrence. These include tyrosine kinase inhibitors, which are taken by mouth and monoclonal antibodies that are injected into the body.
There are many different kinds of breast cancer and conditions. Some are non-invasive, staying in one area of the breast without spreading to surrounding tissue or ducts.
Breast cancer happens when natural systems that control how cells grow and die don’t work correctly. This leads to more cells growing than they should, and they form a tumor.
Ductal carcinoma starts in cells that line breast ducts. It’s the most common type of noninvasive (non-metastatic) breast cancer, and it doesn’t spread to nearby tissue. In some cases, DCIS may become invasive (metastatic) breast cancer that can spread to lymph nodes and other parts of the body. However, most people with DCIS can be cured.
DCIS usually doesn’t cause any symptoms. Doctors can find it when examining your breast or when you have a mammogram. It’s usually a small area that looks like a shadow on the mammogram. DCIS can also show up as a lump in your breast.
If you have DCIS, your doctor might recommend a biopsy. That’s how they’ll find out if the cells are cancerous or not. They’ll also take a sample of the surrounding tissue to see if there are any cancerous cells there. Your doctor will use the results of the biopsy to determine your stage of breast cancer. This is how they’ll treat you.
Staging is how doctors figure out if your cancer has spread. They’ll look at your tumor size, where it’s located in your breast, and whether it has spread to the lymph nodes or other parts of your body. To do this, they’ll use your T stage (how big the tumor is), N stage (whether it’s in the lymph nodes) and M stage (if it has spread to other parts of your body).
Your doctor might recommend a test called a sentinel node biopsy. This will tell them if the first lymph node near where the DCIS is in your breast has cancer in it. If there is, you might need to have more surgery.
You might be offered a mastectomy (removing part of your breast). Or you might have other types of surgery or treatments instead. For example, you might get chemotherapy before or after surgery to shrink the tumor and kill any cancer cells that are left. You might also get targeted therapy to block cancer cell growth.
Genetic mutations can make your breast cells grow faster or more likely to become cancerous. Scientists have found links between specific gene variants and low- and intermediate-grade DCIS and invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC).
Lobular carcinoma is a form of breast cancer that begins in the milk-producing glands (lobules). It makes up about 15% of all invasive breast cancers and has been increasing in incidence rates over the past two decades. It differs from ductal carcinoma in that it starts in the lobules and can spread to the surrounding tissues and lymph nodes, while ductal carcinoma typically begins in breast ducts.
It’s also less likely to form a firm lump than other breast cancer types and may not be easily felt during self-exams or detected by mammography. This can make lobular carcinoma more difficult to diagnose, especially in women who have only very few symptoms. However, it is not impossible to diagnose if a woman has lobular carcinoma; the symptoms are very similar to those of other forms of breast cancer.
While it is unclear what causes lobular carcinoma, scientists do know that it develops when cells in one or more of the milk-producing glands of the breast develop mutations. These changes affect how the cancer cell grows and eventually allows it to break out of the lobule where it began and invade surrounding tissue.
Invasive lobular carcinoma can be more difficult to detect than ductal cancer, as it tends to spread out in a different way than other types of breast cancer and doesn’t always create a distinct lump. In addition, the cells that grow into lobular carcinoma are more likely to have a discohesive morphology and lack the membrane-attachment molecule E-cadherin, a characteristic that can be identified using certain diagnostic tools.
Researchers have identified three subtypes of lobular carcinoma: reactive-like, immune-related and proliferative. Each has its own unique biological characteristics, including a varying degree of sensitivity to hormone therapy.
Despite these differences, researchers agree that all types of lobular carcinoma have the same poor survival rates as other invasive breast cancers. For this reason, it is important for women to receive regular screenings, which can help detect the disease in its earliest stages. For those at higher risk of developing breast cancer, doctors may recommend starting these screenings at an earlier age.
Invasive breast cancers start in the milk ducts or the glands that make milk (lobules). They can spread to nearby tissues through your lymph nodes and blood. The most common type of invasive breast cancer is invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). It makes up about 80% of all invasive breast cancers.
IDC starts in the cells that line a milk duct. Over time, cancer cells grow and eventually break through the duct wall. They can then enter and grow in surrounding breast tissue. They may also spread to other parts of your body through your lymph nodes and blood.
If left untreated, IDC can grow into a much larger tumor that can invade your chest wall or other organs. It can also become metastatic—meaning the cancer has spread from your breast and nearby lymph nodes to other parts of the body, like your bones, lungs or liver.
There’s no way to know what will cause you to develop invasive breast cancer. But certain factors, like being older and having a family history of the disease, can increase your risk. It’s important to know your risk and do a monthly self-exam to look for any changes in your breasts.
Your doctor can tell whether you have invasive breast cancer by a physical exam and imaging tests. Your doctor will feel for any lumps in your breasts and check your armpits to see if any are swollen. You might have an ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging test (MRI). These tests use radio waves and magnets to create detailed images of your tissue.
Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) isn’t a breast cancer, but it increases your risk of getting invasive breast cancer later. DCIS isn’t life-threatening, but if left untreated it can become invasive breast cancer.
Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is the second most common type of invasive breast cancer. It starts in the breast glands that produce milk (lobules) and can spread to nearby tissues or lymph nodes. ILC is harder to detect than IDC. It may be more difficult to identify on a mammogram, and it is often diagnosed at a later stage. Pathologists divide ILC into lobular and invasive lobular carcinoma in situ histologic subtypes.
The vast majority of breast changes are benign, meaning they aren’t cancer. However, some of them may cause symptoms that are similar to breast cancer symptoms and require medical attention. These conditions include pain in the breast, lumps and discharge from the nipple. Women should see a doctor any time they notice an abnormal breast change.
The breast is made up of three main parts: lobules, ducts and connective tissue. The lobules produce milk, the ducts carry the milk to the nipple and the connective tissue holds everything together. Cancer can begin in any of these structures, but most types start in the lobules or ducts.
Invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) is the most common type of breast cancer. It starts in a milk duct and then grows into the surrounding tissue. It can also spread to other parts of the body.
Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) is a type of precancerous lesion. It’s when the cells in your breast lobules look abnormal and can eventually grow into invasive cancer. It’s usually diagnosed when doctors find a mass or abnormal lump in the nipple and in the lymph nodes under your collarbone.
Triple negative breast cancer is a type of breast cancer that doesn’t have receptors for HER2 or oestrogen. This type of breast cancer is more likely to recur after treatment.
Other benign breast diseases include atypical hyperplasia and cysts. They are abnormal growths in the breast and don’t grow into cancer. These conditions can cause a lump in the breast or nipple and are more common in premenopausal women.
A biopsy is the only way to know if any of these benign breast conditions are cancerous or not. A biopsy involves taking a sample of the breast tissue and looking at it under a microscope.
These benign tumors don’t increase your risk of getting cancer in the future, but they can still be painful. They are painless and are usually just a single, soft lump of fat cells.