The condition called invasive ductal carcinoma is a kind of cancer that originates from the duct and has spread into the fatty tissue of the breasts found outside the duct. It is known to be the most frequent kind of breast cancer, even more, this occurs in almost 80% of the diagnosed cancer cases.

Symptoms of infiltrating ductal carcinoma

Just as in the majority of the breast cancers, there aren’t any real symptoms of the condition. In case you have a mammogram, the doctor may find a suspicious mass in your breast that will be further tested. You could find the mass even during a self-exam.

ductal-carcinomaThere are some signs of infiltrating breast carcinoma that could be the basis of further testing, such as a lump or mass in the breast, thickened breast skin, redness or rash of the breast, swelling in one of the breasts, pain, dimpling on the breast skin or around the nipple.

Also it might be a sign of invasive ductal carcinoma if you experience nipple discharge, lumps in the area of the underarm, changes in the appearance of the breast or the nipple besides the natural changes that women experience on a monthly basis.

What is the treatment for the condition?

The treatment of infiltrating ductal carcinoma depends greatly on the kind of cancer that we are referring to or on the staging of the cancer when it is found. The size of the tumor also influences the treatment and its spreading too.

The available treatments for invasive ductal carcinoma include lumpectomy, sentinel node biopsy, mastectomy, axillary node dissection, radiation, breast reconstruction, hormonal therapy, chemotherapy and biologic targeted therapy.

Other types of cancer

There are some other kinds of infiltrating ductal carcinomas that are rarer.

Medullary ductal carcinoma

This type of cancer is really rare, only about 3%-5% of the women diagnosed with cancer have this type. In the majority of the cases the cancer is found during a mammogram and it might not feel like a lump. Actually, it may feel like a spongy tissue in the breast.

Mucinous ductal carcinoma

This kind of invasive ductal carcinoma appears in case the cancerous cells of the breast produce some kind of mucus that also contains breast cancer and the combination of this mucus and cancerous cells form a tumor. The prognosis of this kind of pure cancer is better than in case of the IDC.

Papillary ductal carcinoma

This kind of infiltrating ductal carcinomas looks like small fingers when seen under a microscope. Only in few cases does this kind of cancer become invasive. It usually appears in case of women over 50 and the condition is treated like DCIS even though it is considered to be invasive.

Tubular ductal carcinoma

Only in 2% of the cases of invasive ductal carcinoma does this cancer occur. Just as in the previous case, these are commonly met in case of women over 50, and they are estrogen receptor positive cancer, meaning that they have a response to the different hormones.