Special form of carcinoma in situ
A special form of DCIS is Paget’s carcinoma, also called Paget’s disease of the nipple. If the DCIS is located near the nipple, it can spread to the skin of the nipple and lead to inflammation with secretion and swelling. Paget’s disease of the nipple should not be confused with Paget’s disease of the skeleton. This is a bone disease whose exact cause has not yet been clarified and which leads to bone remodeling and a higher risk of bone fractures.
Lobular carcinoma in situ
What is invasive breast cancer?
Invasive breast cancer is a mass in the breast that infiltrates and displaces healthy breast tissue. It is therefore to be considered malignant. According to the depth of infiltration, different stages of breast cancer are distinguished, which makes it more likely that the cancer tissue will spread to other organs as it spreads.
It is therefore characteristic that in its local growth it does not adhere to the natural limits of breast tissue in relation to the lungs or other organs. It continues to grow and also attacks tissue outside its original organ. Invasive ductal cancer is the most common form of breast cancer, accounting for 70 – 80 %.
It also includes some rarer forms, which differ in their prognosis and response to different forms of therapy. Invasive ductal breast cancer originates from cells in the mammary ducts of the breast, but has ruptured the basement membrane that separates the ducts from other tissue. It is therefore no longer restricted to the milk ducts.
At 10-20%, invasive lobular cancer is significantly less common than its ductal counterpart. It develops in the mammary gland lobules, but has broken through the separating basal membrane and has penetrated into other tissue. The spread of this type of cancer is usually described as diffuse, i.e. there are no clear boundaries.
In addition, this form of cancer rarely forms microcalcifications, which means that the invasive lobular breast cancer is mainly detected by MRI of the breast or by chance in biopsies performed for other reasons. Only extremely rarely is invasive lobular cancer diagnosed via mammography. Lobular breast cancer is not radiation-sensitive and is therefore treated differently from the ductal form.
What is non-invasive breast cancer?
Non-invasive breast cancer can also be seen as a space requirement in the breast, which however does not exceed the natural organ boundaries of the breast. This cancer is therefore to be considered malignant, just like invasive breast cancer, but does not destroy the body’s own breast tissue. Rather, it displaces other tissue through its increasing volume than infiltrating it. However, this form of cancer also has the ability to spread, but it is more or less likely to do so depending on the exact type of breast cancer.
