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Untitled Document
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| Breast
and Ovarian Cancer |
What Are the Different Types of
Breast Cancer |
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By
Kari Danziger,
MS, CGC and Jill
Simonsen
Reviewed
By Andrea Fishbach,
MS, MPH
Last
Updated September 5, 2000
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Breast
cancers
can start in any tissue of the breast. However, most
breast cancers start in the ducts, a smaller percentage
start in the lobules, and even fewer start in other
tissues of the breast. The different types of breast
cancer are named for various features of the particular
disease. Some types of breast cancer are named based
on where the disease began, such as invasive ductal
carcinoma. Other types of cancer are named based on
their appearance under a microscope. For example, tubular
carcinoma appears as tube-shaped cells under the microscope.
Each of the different types of breast cancer has distinct
prognosis and symptoms.
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- Invasive
(or infiltrating) ductal carcinoma.
Accounting for 70 percent of all breast cancers,
this is the most common type of breast cancer.
It begins inside the duct and then penetrates
the duct's wall to reach the fatty tissue of
the breast. From there, it has the potential
to spread (or metastasize)
to other parts of the body through the lymphatic
system and bloodstream.
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Invasive (or infiltrating) lobular carcinoma.
This is the second-most common tumor type,
accounting for ten percent of all breast cancer.
It begins in the terminal ducts of the breast
milk-producing glands.
- Medullary
carcinoma. Although only three to six percent
of all breast cancers are medullary carcinomas,
this type of cancer is much more common in women
with a genetic predisposition to breast cancer.
In fact, different studies have found that between
13 and 19 percent of all cancers in women who
carry a BRCA1 mutation are medullary carcinomas.
In this type of cancer, the border between the
cancer tissue and the normal tissues is relatively
well-defined. Generally, the prognosis for patients
with medullary carcinoma is better than for
women with other types of invasive ductal or
lobular carcinoma.
- Paget's
disease. This
unique type of breast cancer only accounts for
three percent of all breast cancer. It involves
the nipple and areola, and is often associated
with abnormal scaling and redness of the skin
of the nipple and areola. Women may also have
burning or itching. Paget's disease may be associated
with in situ or invasive cancer. If there is
no lump or evidence of ductal carcinoma in situ
by biopsy, the prognosis is very good.
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Inflammatory breast cancer.
This cancer accounts for only approximately
one percent of all breast cancers. It is named
after its characteristic initial symptoms, which
include redness, warmth, and swelling of the
skin of the breast —
often
without a distinctive lump. These symptoms,
which have the appearance of an infection or
inflammation, are caused by cancer cells blocking
lymph vessels or channels in the skin over the
breast.
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Other rare forms of cancer/variants of invasive
ductal carcinoma. Mucinous, or colloid,
carcinoma accounts for three percent of breast
cancers and is more common among older women.
Tubular carcinoma and papillary carcinoma each
represent approximately one percent of breast
cancer diagnoses. Both mucinous and tubular
carcinomas have a better prognosis than the
more common type of invasive ductal or lobular
breast cancer. Even more rare, adenocystic breast
cancer accounts for 0.4 percent of all cases
and carcinosarcoma breast cancer accounts for
only 0.1 percent of all cases.
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References
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Claus
EB et al. (1993) Relationship between breast histopathology
and family history of breast cancer. Cancer 71(1):
147-153.
Eisinger F et al. (1998) Mutations at BRCA1: the medullary
breast carcinoma revisited. Cancer Research 58(8):
1588-1592.
Breast Cancer Linkage Consortium (1997) Pathology of
familial breast cancer: difference between breast cancers
in carriers of BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations and sporadic
cases. Lancet 349(9064): 1505-1510.
Armes JE et al. (1998)The histologic phenotypes of breast
carcinoma occurring before age 40 years in women with
and without BRCA1 or BRCA2 germline mutations: a population-based
study. Cancer 83(11): 2335-2345.
S. Lakhani, et. al. (1997). The pathology of familial
breast cancer: evidence for differences between breast
cancers developing in carriers developing in carriers
of BRCA1 mutations, BRCA2 mutations and sporadic cases.
Lancet. 349(1488-1510.
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