Pathology of the Breast Flashcards
What does carcinoma mean?
Malignancy of epithelium
What are the two types of breast cancer?
Hereditary and Sporadic
What are the 8 major risk factors for sporadic breast cancer?
- Being Female
- Being over 50
- Geography (western world)
- Fam hx
- Fibrocystic changes
- Prior breast or GYN cancer
- Radiation
- Unopposed estrogens (women with no pregnancies, early menarche, late menopause, obesity)
What are the two broad forms of carcinoma of the breast?
- In situ carcinoma (CIS)
2. Invasive carcinoma
What are the two forms of carcinoma in situ of the breast?
- Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)
2. Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS)
What does it mean to be in situ?
In its normal position, ie doesn’t push the boundaries of a gland or lobule
What are the key features of in situ carcinomas?
- Microscopic entity (can only be diagnosed by microscope)
- CIS cells proliferate “in position” (ie in situ)
- Lacks capacity to spread (can be malignant, but are confined to a basement membrane)
- Benign-acting (if treated)
What are the key features of DCIS?
- Common form of breast cancer
- Lacks capacity to spread
- Always curable, if treated
- Non-obligate precursor of invasive carcinoma (ie not all DCIS progresses to invasive cancer, but it can)
What do you look for in a mammogram?
Cluster of calcifications
How do you diagnose DCIS?
Image-guided core biopsy
Microscopic features of DCIS
- Calcified necrosis (dystrophic calcification)
- Enlarged cells
- High N/C ratio
- Prominent nucleoli
- Mitoses
- Can have many architectural patterns and mixtures are common
Describe the architectural patterns of DCIS
Can have many architectural patterns and mixtures are common
- Cribriform (looks like big holes)
- Comedo-necrosis (ie necrosis in glands)
- Micropapillary
What are the key features of LCIS?
- Microscopic entity (can’t see on Xray, need microscope_
- CIS cells proliferate “in position” (ie in situ)
- Incidental microscopic finding (ie discovered due to another abnormality)
What are the malignant cellular features of LCIS?
- Lack of cohesion (normal cell-cell interactions disrupted)
- Signet-ring cells (contain globules of intracellular mucin)
What is the clinical significance of LCIS?
- Benign
- Difficult to excise (no radiologic correlate)
- Don’t know if it is a risk factor or precursor (15-20% inc risk of cancer with LCIS)
- Usual treatment: Watch and wait, +/- Anti-estrogen
What are the key features of invasive breast cancer?
- Not in situ
- Capacity to spread
- Potentially lethal (if spreads)
- 10 year survival=45-50%
What are the 2 major forms of invasive carcinoma?
- Invasive ductal carcinoma
2. Invasive lobular carcinoma