Types of Breast Cancer

There are several types of breast cancer varying in the breast area they are affecting, how severe they are, what are the chances for survival and the kind of treatment the patient receives. Nowadays there are treatments for any type of breast cancer, either to cure it or to reduce the symptoms and slow down the growing process.

Ductal Carcinoma in-situ

Ductal Carcinoma in-situ is an early stage of breast cancer where breast cancer cells are limited to the ducts. This type of breast cancer is divided into two main categories: comedo (similar to a blackhead) and non-comedo. Comedocarcinoma usually behaves more aggressively, sometimes invading small areas of the surrounding tissue as well.

Ductal Carcinoma in-situ is usually treated through surgery. It generally doesn’t require removal of underarm nodes, as axillary metastasis only happens in about 1 percent of all cases.  If the tumor was eliminated by lumpectomy, irradiation is also recommended after the surgical treatment to reuce recurrence rate from 21 percent to 5-10 percent.

Infiltrating Ductal

This is the most frequent type of breast cancer, making up for almost 80 percent of all malignant tumors. In mammography, these lesions can have either a stellate or a well circumscribed appearance. The ones with a stellate appearance have a less optimistic prognosis.

Medullary Carcinoma

Medullary carcinoma makes up for about 15 percent of all breast cancers. The tumor is usually well circumscribed and can hardly be distinguished from fibroadenoma even by mammography. This type of breast cancer is estrogen and progesterone receptor negative about 90 percent of the time. It usually has a more optimistic prognosis than regular breast cancer.

Infiltrating Lobular

This type of breast cancer also makes up for around 15 percent of all malignant tumors. The lesions usually show up in the upper outer breast quadrant as a mild thickeninf and are hard to detect by mammography. Infiltrating lobular may be bilateral, affecting both breasts. Viewed on microscope, the tumors show a linear array of cells and are located around lobules and ducts.

Tubular Carcinoma

This type of breast cancer is a well differentiated carcinoma and makes up for only 2 percent of all cases. They have the best prognosis, with a 10-year survival rate of almost 95 percent.

Mucinous Carcinoma

In mucinos carcinoma, the lesions are also well circumscribed and rounded in most cases. It is a less frequent type of breast cancer, representing only 1-2 percent of all cases. Mucinous carcinoma has a very optimistic prognosis as well.
 
Inflammatory Breast Cancer

This is a very aggressive and severe type of breast cancer. The most common symptoms consist in changes in the appearance of the skin, such as reddening, thickening of the skin tissue, proeminence of hair folicules and ressemblance to an orange peel.

Inflammatory breast cancer is usually diagnosed by skin biopsy, which detects the malignant tumor in vascular and lymphatic tumors in about 50 percent of all cases.