Less Common Forms Of Breast Cancer

Following invasive ductal carcinoma, invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is the most common type of breast cancer. Unlike invasive ductal carcinoma, inasvive lobular carcinoma begins within the lobules of the breast — the milk-producing glands. Making up only about 10 percent of all invasive breast cancer cases, ILC also doesn't come with the symptoms most women have come to expect from breast cancer. Rather than feeling a lump, patients may notice that the breast has thickened, swollen, or that the skin covering the breast has changed in texture. Though lumps can sometimes be felt, this is much rarer. An inverted nipple that wasn't inverted before can also be a warning sign.

 

 

The risk factors of this type of breast cancer are also different, and more complicated, when compared to invasive ductal carcinoma. The following categories of people are at a higher risk of developing invasive lobular carcinoma:

As with IDC, the treatment path depends on the size of the tumor and whether the cancer has spread to the surrounding lymph nodes or other parts of the body. When the tumor is relatively small and the cancer hasn't spread, surgery wil be the first line of treatment. This can involve a lumpectomy, a partial mastectomy, a simple mastectomy, or a modified radical mastectomy — in which the lymph nodes and muscular tissue are also removed from the area. Again, radiation therapy will follow if you have surgery first. This can be done externally or internally. 

An extremely aggressive form of breast cancer, inflammatory breast cancer is fortunately also extremely rare: between one and five percent of all US breast cancer cases fall into this category. Inflammatory breast cancer usually begins with a redness and swelling of the breast, rather than a lump, and it tends to affect people slightly younger than usual for breast cancer cases. Other symptoms include an aching feeling in the breast along with swollen lymph nodes.

Unlike the other forms of breast cancer we mentioned above, patients will typically receive chemotherapy before undergoing surgery. Anthracyclines and taxanes are typically used over the course of the chemotherapy treatment plan. Something called targeted therapy, which stops the cancer's cell growth, is also used in cases where the cancer tissue sample tests positive for HER2 receptors. A modified radical mastectomy is a common surgical approach for inflammatory breast cancer, and this is performed after chemotherapy.