What Is Breast Cancer?
by Beth G. Hodges, MD

Breast cancer occurs when normal cells of the breast tissue become mutated and the body loses the ability to control their growth. These cells usually arise from the ducts or the glands and can grow to form a tumor and/or spread to other parts of the body (metastasize.)

Most breast cancers occur in women, but half of 1% (i.e 0.5%) can occur in men. For women, breast cancer is the most common cancer to experience and the second leading cause of cancer deaths, though overall survival rates are good.

Types of Breast Cancer

There are several types of breast cancer, and treatment as well as prognosis depend on the type and extent of the disease at the time of diagnosis. The two main types, ductal and lobular, can each be classified as in situ (very localized) or invasive (exactly as it sounds.) Invasive ductal carcinoma is the most common type of breast cancer. Ductal types tend to appear as microcalcifications on mammogram. Lobular types, arising from the glands, can occur as a single lesion or as multiple lesions in the same breast or even bilateral breast lesions.

Paget's disease of the nipple presents as redness, itching, or pain in the nipple that signals an underlying invasive breast cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer, thankfully, is rare, as it is an aggressive cancer that does not show up on mammogram or ultrasound. It is usually found as late disease presenting with redness, swelling, pain, persistent bruising of the breast, or sudden retraction of the nipple. It can easily be misdiagnosed as another skin condition.

Cystosarcoma phyllodes is a less common type of breast cancer that presents as a solid tumor, grows slowly, and spreads through the blood as opposed to the lymph system.

What is breast cancer? It is really a collection of malignancies bound by the fact that they each originate in the breast tissue. Prognosis varies by type, but the most important factor is early diagnosis with monthly self breast exam and regular mammography.

Published - October, 2009