BREAST CANCER
According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer can be defined as “a malignant tumor that starts in the cells of the breast,” however this is a very simplistic definition of the term. The truth is that breast cancer can take on at least five different forms:
- Ductal Carcinoma in siturefers to a specific type in which cancerous cells are still confined to the ducts (gland that milk passes through) and lobules (gland that secretes breast milk), and have not yet reached any deeper tissue.
- Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC), on the other hand, begins in a duct, but successfully breaks through the wall of the duct and attacks the breast tissue itself. This is the most common form of breast cancer.
- Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC), much like IDC, contains cancerous cells that eventually break through the lobular wall and attack the breast tissue, however this form of breast cancer originates in a lobule of a breast.
- An uncommon form of breast cancer that makes up only 1 to 3% of all breast cancer is known as Inflammatory Breast Cancer. This form is unique due to the fact that there is often no recognizable lump in the breast itself, and is usually characterized by irritation on the skin of the breast. Symptoms include redness, itching, appearance of thickness in the skin, and sometimes growth size of the infected breast. This particular type of breast cancer is often hard to catch early due to the fact that it often does not show up on a mammogram.