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What are the types of breast cancer?

Breast cancer is mainly categorised into two types: “invasive” and “non-invasive”. Invasive breast cancer is a type of cancer that spread to other parts of the body from ducts or lobules of breasts, whereas non-invasive type of cancer does not spread from the original tissue.
Some of the most common types of breast cancer include:
In situ/non-invasive breast cancers: These types of cancers do not spread from the original tissue:

What is ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)?

In this type of cancer, the cells lining the milk ducts of the breast have become cancerous, but they do not spread into the surrounding tissue. It is often curable yet if, it can become invasive.

What is invasive lobular carcinoma (LCIS)?

This is found only in the milk glands (lobules. It is not a true cancer, but a woman diagnosed with LCIS can have greater risk for developing breast cancer. It is advised to get regular breast exams and mammograms if you are diagnosed with this type of cancer.

Invasive Breast Cancers: These types of cancers have spread or invaded the surrounding tissue of the breast:

Invasive or infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC): This cancer type is most common accounting for 80% of invasive cancers. It is initiated in the milk ducts and breaks through the wall invading the fatty tissue of the breast.
Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC): This cancer begins in the lobules but can spread to adjacent tissues or other parts of the body. This type of cancer constitutes nearly 10% of invasive breast cancers. Subtypes of invasive lobular carcinoma include:
- Adenoid cystic (or adenocystic) carcinoma: These cancer cells resemble to the cells found in the salivary glands and saliva
- Low-grade adenosquamous carcinoma: This is a type of metaplastic carcinoma and is rare appearing to develop slowly, and is often mistaken for other forms of invasive breast cancer
- Medullary carcinoma: This is a rare type of invasive cancer and the tumors in this type are a soft, squishy mass that looks similar to the medulla in the brain
- Mucinous carcinoma: Tumors float in a pool of mucin (a part of the slick, slimy material that makes up mucus) in this type of rare invasive type if cancer
- Papillary carcinoma: These are the rare type of tumors which are finger like projections thereby set them apart affecting women who have been through menopause
- Tubular carcinoma: These are slow-growing and tube-shaped tumors
Less common types of breast cancer include:
Inflammatory breast cancer: This rare type of cancer is caused by inflammatory cells in lymph vessels of the skin
Paget’s disease of the nipple: This type of cancer affects the areola of the breast
Phyllodes tumors of the breast: These rare tumors develop in the leaflike pattern. They grow quickly but rarely spread outside the breast
Metastatic breast cancer: Cancer that has spread to another body part, like your brain, bones, or lungs.

Breast Cancer Subtypes:

There are 3 major breast cancer subtypes which are determined by performing specific tests on a tumor sample. These tests will help your doctor know more about the cancer and recommend the most effective treatment plan.

Testing the tumor sample can find out if the cancer is:

What are estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer and progesterone receptor–positive breast cancer?

Breast cancers that express estrogen receptors (ERs) and progesterone receptors (PRs) are considered “positive hormone receptors”. These are the proteins which are found in cells. Tumors with estrogen receptors are referred to as “positive ER.” Tumors with progesterone receptors are referred to as “positive PR.” Only one of these receptors has to be active for a cancer to be called as active hormone receptor. This type of cancer can rely on the growth of estrogen or progesterone hormones. Hormone-positive cancers of the receptor can occur at any age, but are more common in women who have had menopause. Around 60-75% of breast cancers have receptors for estrogen or progesterone. Hormone receptor negative are those cancers without these receptors.

What is HER2-positive breast cancer?

These cancer types can either be positive hormone receptors or negative hormone receptors. Approximately 10-20% of breast cancers grow depending on the gene called the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). These cancers are considered “HER2 positive,” because they have several copies of the HER2 gene or high HER2 protein levels which are called receptors. The gene HER2 produces the protein HER2, which is found in the cancer cells and is essential for tumor cell growth. HER2-positive breast cancers can grow faster. Cancers with no or reduced HER2 protein levels and few copies of the HER2 gene are known as “HER2 negative.”

What is triple-negative breast cancer?

If a tumor does not express ER, PR or HER2, the tumor is called “triple negative.” Triple-negative breast cancer accounts for about 15 % to 20% of invasive breast cancers. These cancers appear to be more common among younger women especially in younger black and Hispanic women. Triple-negative cancer is also more common in females with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation. Experts recommend that BRCA gene mutations should be tested for all people with triple-negative breast cancer younger than 60.

Complete Breast Cancer Screening

Screening tests are the tests performed to detect disease before symptoms begin. The screening is aimed at detecting disease at its earliest and at most treatable stage. A screening system must meet a various criterion to be generally accepted and approved by medical professionals, including minimizing the number of deaths in the patients suffering from the disease.
Screening tests can include laboratory tests to examine blood and other fluids, genetic tests that check for inherited genetic markers linked to the disease, and imaging tests that provide images of the body’s interior. Usually, these tests are available to the general population; however, the need for a particular screening test are dependent on factors such as age, gender and family history.

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