Breast Cancer : Invasive And Non Invasive

Mammograms are breast cancer screenings and are of great importance since they detect if indeed a malignant tumor is present and if so what stage it is in (Stephan, 2010). Cancers can be detected at stages I, II, or IIA (Haas et al., 2008).

Breast cancer is cancerous growth of cells in the breast which can be often felt as lump. It becomes dangerous when the cancerous cells becomes malignant and starts invading other tissues of the body. However, this can be prevented by early detection. The incidence of breast cancer is mostly with females although there are few reports of men suffering from the disease. In most cases, the cells with the ducts of milk glands are often associated and few can arise from other cells of the breast and can be termed as sarcomas as well as lymphomas that are different from breast cancer which is an adenocarcinoma (Al-Hajj, Wicha, Benito-Hernandez, Morrison, & Clarke, 2003). Common type of breast cancer includes ductal carcinoma in situ which is considered non-invasive and not life threatening. The invasive ductal carcinoma is associated with the milk duct and can invade nearby tissues of the breast as well as other body parts through the blood stream. Another form of invasive lobular carcinoma starts from the milk glands and can metastasize. Other less common types includes inflammatory breast cancer, Paget disease, phyllodes tumour and angiosarcoma.

Breast Cancer can be found in many forms but the most noninvasive type is called Ductal Carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Being that Ductal Carcinoma is noninvasive means that it has not spread farther than the milk ducts, therefore not invading other tissue within the breasts. Intraductal carcinoma is another name for this type of cancer. This type of cancer is considered to be the earliest form of breast cancer, therefore it tends to not be staged. Being that this form is not staged makes doctors consider this to be a precancerous form. In order to detect DCIS a simple mammogram is all that is needed to detect the cancer spot.

Breast cancer is a disease in which malignant cells form in the breast tissue. There are many different kinds of breast cancer, which is determined by which cells in the breast that are cancerous. The lobules, ducts, and connective tissue are the three main parts that make up the breast. Most cancer starts in the ducts and lobules with the most common being invasive ductal carcinoma and invasive lobular carcinoma. In invasive ductal the cancer cells grow outside the ducts of the breast into other parts of the breast tissue and may metastasize to other parts of the body. Invasive lobular cancer starts in the lobules of the breast and spreads to the nearby breast tissue or other parts of the body.

Breast Cancer is a cancerous tumor that has developed within the cells of the breast. The most ordinary area in the breast for breast cancer to develop is the ducts, and less ordinary in the lobules of the breast. The cancerous cells can intrude healthy breast tissue over time, or cells can break off from the tumor and travel to the lymph nodes and into the lymphatic system which could take them to other parts of the body (“Breast Cancer-Woman’s”).

Breast cancer is the second most common malignancy in women in the United States, and is the leading cause of death in women between 45 and 64 years of age. About one in eight women in the United States will develop invasive breast cancer during their lifetime. There are many different types of breast cancer, different stages and different variations of the disease but I am going to focus on Malignant Breast Cancer. In the United States alone, more than 230,480 new cases of invasive cancer are diagnosed annually.

Cancer is started when the DNA in a cell becomes damaged. The mutated cells caused by the damaged DNA rapidly reproduce which can cause tumors to form. There are two types of tumors, benign tumors and malignant tumors. A benign tumor is non-invasive, and an malignant tumor is invasive. Breast cancer generally will form in the lobules or milk ducts. Lobular carcinoma in situ, also called LCIS, is non-invasive. That means the it forms and stays in the lobules. Lobular carcinoma is invasive. That means that it develops in the lobules and breaks through and has a potential to spread to other parts of the body. Ductal carcinoma in situ is non-invasive. It forms and stays in the milk ducts. Ductal carcinoma is invasive and is when ductal carcinoma

Cancer is defined by the National Cancer Institute as “the name given to a collection of related diseases. In all types of cancer, some of the body’s cells begin to divide without stopping and spread into surrounding tissues.” Cancer can develop at almost any part of the human body and anyone can develop cancer, although risk typically increases with age because most cancers tend to require many years to develop. “Normally, human cells grow and divide to form new cells as the body needs them. When cells grow old or become damaged, they die, and new cells take their place. When cancer develops, however, this orderly process breaks down. As cells become more and more abnormal, old or damaged cells survive when they should die, and new cells form when they are not needed. These extra cells can divide without stopping and may form growths called tumors” (cancer.gov). Cancerous tumors are defined as malignant meaning that they can spread to nearby tissues or metastasize to distant places in places within the body and form new cancerous tumors. There are over 100 forms of cancer and they are usually named after the organs or tissues where the cancers originate. Staging of cancer is used to “describe the severity of a person’s cancer based on the size and/or extent (reach) of the original (primary) tumor and whether or not cancer has spread in the body” (cancer.gov). The importance’s of staging cancer is to assist the doctor with planning appropriate treatments to fight the cancer

Detection of breast cancer can be made at an early stage through screening. Screening refers to the various tests and examinations that are carried out on the breasts of a person to detect the disease at the earliest, even before the actual symptoms of the disease starts to show. Usually breast cancers that can be felt and detected are cancers that have grown larger in size and that which in usual cases has spread to regions outside the breast. The treatment in such cases is very complex. Breast cancers can be treated successfully if it is detected very early, and before the actual cancer symptoms starts to show.

With the advancement of medicine, diagnosing breast cancer is much easier now than it was before. Mammograms are a very common way of diagnosing breast cancer. A mammogram takes x-rays of the breasts and checks for any abnormalities in the breast. A breast ultrasound is also another way of diagnosing breast cancer. “Ultrasounds use sound waves to produce images of structures deep within the body”.(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education .) The only way to be sure that a patient 's lump is cancerous or not, is by performing a biopsy. During the procedure doctors take cells from the affected area and test them to see if they are cancerous. The biopsy also determines the aggressiveness of the cancer, and what type of treatment would be the best for the patient 's type of cancer. Not all patients can receive the same form of treatment.

The first therapy treatment, radiation: “Radiation is local treatment administered by specialized physicians known as radiation oncologist. It is given with a large machine called a linear accelerator that converts radioactive particles into a high-energy radiation beam that is used to treat a specific, well-defined area of your body”(Link, Forsthoff, and Waisman 81). Radiation puts cancer cells into death cycle. But radiation still have own side effect: “The skin around the area receiving radiation may begin to look tanned or sunburned” (Pat and Levine 100-01). Beside the skin will look tanned, the daily trip to the hospital or cancer center can be tiring, and if the patient tired, the body generally weak. Moreover, if the doctor does radiation after surgery, the

Stage 0 cancers are called “carcinoma in situ.” Carcinoma means cancer and “in situ” means “in the original place.” the three types of “in situ carcinoma” of the

When abnormal tissue or cancer is found early, it may be easier to treat. By the time symptoms appear, cancer may have begun to

Breast carcinoma is the most common malignancy and the leading cause of death in women. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) plays a critical role in early diagnosis of any palpable breast lump.

Benign tumors are one of the well-known tumors to be associated with breast cancer. Benign tumors do not spread around the body as the tumor enlarges, making it less deadly and easier to remove than others, however benign tumors are still a threat to the body. Malignant tumors, are known to be deadly. As malignant tumors enlarge it will soon spread around the body. One notably malignant tumor is called carcinoma. There two common type of carcinoma, situ and invasive. Adrian C. Bateman (2009) states that, “Both situ and invasive are present as breast mass, nipple discharge… However, in invasive carcinoma, through macroscopic examination of the tumor cell, these cell tend to be firm pale tissue that have a “gritty” consistency. Also invasive carcinoma starts close to ducts” (2). The starting point for invasive carcinoma, allows tumors to gradually infect lymph nodes (axillary nodes first) and blood that are present in the breast, eventually causing it to spread further away from the breast and possibly to other parts of the