Breast cancer is categorized into various forms depending upon the manner in which the cells look under a microscope. Carcinoma are abnormal cells that split up without any control. In reference to breast cancer, carcinomas usually target the milk duct and the lobules. This type of cancer is said to be the most common type of cancer diagnosed in women in the United States.
The types of breast cancer include the following:
1. Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)
During the inception of breast cancer, cancerous cells are confined to the lining of the milk ducts and do not spread through the walls of the ducts. This is known as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), which is considered to be the earliest stages of breast cancer. If the lesions of these types of breast cancers are not treated on time, the cancerous cells may spread through the duct to the surrounding tissues. This can lead to the initiation of an invasive type of breast cancer.
2. Ductal carcinoma
Ductal carcinoma is categorized into many types based on the size of the tumor. These include comedo, cribriform, solid, papillary, and micropapillary.
Women with ductal carcinoma are typically at greater risk and are usually advised to check for any signs of relapse. Mostly this occurs in five to ten years after the early diagnosis. Ductal carcinoma also carries an increased risk of developing breast cancer in the other breast. When ductal carcinoma recurs, it needs additional treatment.
The likelihood of recurrence can be affected by the type of therapy that has been opted for. The treatment for ductal carcinoma without radiation therapy with breast-conserving surgery has a twenty-five to thirty-five percent chance of flaring up again. When radiation therapy is operated in the treatment, the risk is decreased to around fifteen percent. As of today, for women, the long-term survival rate with this form of breast cancer is quite high.
3. Invasive ductal carcinoma
Invasive ductal carcinoma starts in the ducts of the milk gladly and goes right up to the fatty tissues outside the breast ducts. Around eighty percent of invasive breast cancer comprises invasive ductal carcinoma.
Surgery, for the most part, is the prime treatment alternative for invasive ductal breast cancer. The objective for opting in for this is to get rid of the cancer in the breast with mastectomy or lumpectomy. The recommendations by specialists will depend upon factors like the size of cancer, if the cancer is constrained in just a single area of the breast, or the location of the tumor. In order to prevent a relapse, systemic treatment with tamoxifen is considered to be the best. However, this type of treatment has its own pros and cons and is surrounded by many controversies. It is very important to choose the right specialist and do ample research before choosing any treatments.
4. Medullary ductal carcinoma
The medullary ductal carcinoma is one of the rarest kinds. In this type of breast cancer, cancer spreads beyond the milk duct. It comprises just three to five percent of the total breast cancer diagnosis. It is known as medullary as it looks similar to a part of the brain which is known as the medulla. This type of breast cancer can develop at any age. However, in most cases, it typically affects the females who are in their forties and fifties. Women who have the BRCA1 gene mutation, are the ones who are commonly affected by this type of breast cancer.