Breast Cancer - Moose and Doc

A breast cancer explanations website

 

By Dr. Halls

Types of breast cancer Index

 
… and other benign breast tumors and an explanation of some breast cancer terms.

Women with a diagnosis of breast cancer are often confronted with imposing medical terms concerning the various different kinds of breast cancer, and the particular characteristics of their own diagnosis.

Quite often the diagnosis is for a benign breast condition, and there can be some anxiety as to whether or not these breast changes indicate an increase in the risk for breast cancer. There are many specific technical terms in use for the treatment of breast cancers which are far less stressful once a woman can understand in simple, layman’s terms.

 

Megan Megan
Wow! There are a huge amount of posts here on this index page, Doc.

Billy Billy
Yes, somebody has been very busy. What I need to know, is when does the Doc ever sleep?


 
 

Various kinds of breast cancer

 
Most invasive breast cancers are actually of a generic variety, often simply called ‘ductal carcinoma NOS‘ or ‘not otherwise specified. There are about 5 or 6 fairly common types of specific breast cancers which have a particular cellular appearance and behaviour. Beyond this there are numerous rare forms of breast cancer, and quite a number that are more difficult to classify because they have features common to different breast cancer types, or contain a certain percentage of benign disease.

 

Talking Moose
Talking Moose
A list of 40 things, really?

Dr. Halls Dr. Halls
Ok ok. #1 and #2 are common, the rest are rare. And DCIS (further below) is also common.


 
 

Index of Types of Breast Cancer Posts

 

By the way, this index is a little old now, but still valid.  I have a newer page with up-to-date references about types of breast cancer.

 

Types of DCIS or ‘in situ’ breast cancers

 
Ductal Carcinoma in Situ implies that breast cancer has been found, but has not yet infiltrated the breast ducts. ‘In Situ” breast carcinoma can also occur in the breast lobules. Many of the same cellular characteristics of infiltrative and invasive breast cancers can also be seen in ‘in situ‘ ductal and lobular breast carcinomas.

 

And, I have a newer page about DCIS here.

 

‘Pre-cursor’ Breast Lesions

 
Breast Cancer is known to evolve out of certain proliferative breast lesions.  Specialists often refer to these early changes either as:-

  1. Hyperplasia:  which means very rapid and uncontrollable new cell growth
  2. Neoplasia:  which simply means ‘new cell growth’

In many instances there is nothing malignant-looking about the new cells and so the physicians simply describe them as a ‘benign epithelial lesion’ or possibly a benign breast papilloma.

Some of these hyperplastic and neoplastic changes are pre-cancerous, but others are mostly benign.  Indeed, these early cell changes remain a topic of uncertainty. The main issue is whether or not there is anything ‘atypical’ about the cells and the formation.

Index of Posts on Hyperplasia

 

And, a newer page about these hyperplasia types here and here plus adenomas and papillomas.

 

The list continues on this page: Benign tumors, Mesenchymal and Stromal, soft tissue tumors of the breast

 

This link goes to our full breast cancer index, and our brand new breast cancer content homepage.

About Steven Halls

Dr Halls has 25 years experience as a radiologist. He worked for 13 years at Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, a world-class cancer treatment facility. He has had high-volume experience with cancer, interventional procedures, clinical trials and his own phase 1 and 2 research in MRI and breast cancer staging.