Breast Cancer

Cancer originating from milk ducts.

Cancer originating from milk-secreting breast lobules.

The cancer cells break out from inside the lobules or ducts and invade nearby tissue. They can reach the lymph nodes, and eventually make their way to other organs.

This type is pre-cancerous where the cancer is still inside its place of origin and has not broken out. Lobular carcinoma in situ is when the cancer is inside the lobules while ductal carcinoma in situ is when it is inside the milk ducts.

• Mastectomy: It refers to surgically removing the whole breast. Simple mastectomy involves removing the lobules, ducts, fatty tissue, nipple, areola, and some skin. In radical mastectomy, the muscle of the chest wall and the lymph nodes in the armpit are also removed.
• Lumpectomy or Wide Local Excision: Lumpectomy is typically reserved for smaller tumors where only the tumor and a little surrounding breast tissue are removed.
• Quadrantectomy: In this treatment, only a quarter part of the breast is removed.
• Sentinel Node Biopsy – One lymph node is surgically removed to stop the cancer from spreading further into the body through the lymphatic system.
• Axillary Lymph Node Dissection – Several lymph nodes in the armpit are removed in case the cancer cells have reached the sentinel node.

• Hormone Therapy: Some breast cancers require estrogen to continue growing. Hormone therapy treats them with drugs that either block the receptors or block the production of estrogen with an aromatase inhibitor.
• Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. At times, it is also given before surgery to women with large breast tumors to shrink their size. 
• Radiation Therapy: Radiation therapy uses high-powered beams of energy, such as X-rays, to kill cancer cells. External beam radiation is commonly used after lumpectomy for early-stage breast cancer. Radiation therapy to the chest wall is also recommended after mastectomy for larger breast cancers or cancers that have spread to the lymph nodes.