Ductal breast cancer is a type of cancer that starts from the milk ducts of the breasts. The milk duct is the part where the breast milk passes through. Most women are diagnosed with ductal breast cancer which accounts for 78% of all diagnoses. Due to this, a lot of people have been searching for the details of this disease. Here is a collection of answers for the most common questions that you probably have about ductal carcinoma:
What are the types of ductal breast cancer?
Ductal breast cancer can either be classified as non-invasive or invasive. Non-invasive ductal carcinoma is a localized type of breast cancer where the cancer cells only remain on the milk ducts of the breast. On the other hand, invasive ductal carcinoma has the cancer cells spread beyond the breast tissues. The non-invasive ductal carcinoma is more responsive to surgery than the invasive one, thus it has a better prognosis. However, there is a high recurrence rate for non-invasive ductal carcinoma after surgery. It’s very important to understand the risk of breast cancer regardless which stage the breast cancer might be.
How would I know I have ductal carcinoma?
Non-invasive ductal carcinoma is usually asymptomatic while invasive ductal arcinoma is discovered by patients as a lump in the breast. Nevertheless, invasive ductal carcinoma presents the same observations as that of any breast cancer.
Check yourself for the possible signs and symptoms of breast cancer below:
1. Inflammation of the breasts which can be presented as redness, swelling and pain the breasts.
2. Nipple discharges in non-lactating women
3. Nipple inversion
4. Lump on the underarm
5. Dimpling of the breast’s skin
How can a doctor be sure that I have ductal carcinoma?
Once you observe any of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer presented above, you must immediately consult a doctor and he will do the following procedures to be sure of his diagnosis:
1. Physical examination
The doctor will have a thorough examination of your breasts and will then do a series of tests to confirm you diagnosis of cancer.
After a physical exam, doctors let their patients undergo a mammogram which can be coupled by an ultrasound. Ductal carcinoma is most sensitive to mammograms so it is a common test done for this type of breast cancer.
The confirmatory test for ductal carcinoma is a biopsy where a pathologic test of your breast tissue is done.
What are the treatments available for this disease?
There are combination treatments available for breast carcinoma and here are some of them:
Surgery with radiation therapy is the common treatment for non-invasive ductal breast cancer. Surgical procedures can be in the form of lumpectomy where the lump is the one removed or a mastectomy of the whole breast will be removed.
2. Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy is usually done after the surgery of the breasts. It destroy the remaining cancer cells that might have been left out after a breast surgery.
3. Hormonal Therapy
If the ductal breast cancer has hormone receptors, then hormonal therapy can be done. It lowers the estrogen levels which prevents the increase in the lump’s size
Chemotherapy is recommended for the advanced stages of invasive ductal carcinoma. It kills the cancer cells of the breast but entails a lot of risks as it also attacks a person’s normal cells.
Will I survive ductal breast cancer?
Breast cancer is the second leading killer cancer in woman. However, if early detection and prompt treatment are done, your survival rate can be better. If you have been diagnosed with a non-invasive ductal carcinoma, you can have a 98% chance of survival but a 9-30% of recurrence can happen. On the other hand, if you have an invasive ductal carcinoma, your prognosis will depend on factors that determine the extent of your cancer spread.