• Types of Cancer
• Breast Cancer
• Am I at risk?
• Can I get genetic counseling or testing?
• Can I get screened?
• How do you diagnose it?
• What are the Symptoms of Breast Cancer?
• What are the treatment options?
• What is Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women (behind skin cancer) in the United States. Each year, more than 200,000 women are diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. When caught early, breast cancer is highly treatable; there are currently more than two million breast cancer survivors in the US.

There are several different types of breast cancer. Classifications are based on the kind of breast tissue in which the cancer originates, and whether it has localized or spread. More than 90 percent of breast cancers originate in the ducts that carry milk from the milk-producing glands (known as lobules) to the nipple. Each breast consists of 15 to 20 groups of lobules, surrounded by fatty tissue and connective tissue. A thin duct, or milk channel, connects each group of lobules to the nipple. Each breast also contains a network of blood vessels and lymphatic vessels. Breast cancer cells can enter the lymphatic system and travel to local lymph nodes, first migrating to those under the arms (axillary nodes). If left untreated, breast cancer can metastasize - or spread - to other lymph nodes, as well as to the bones, lungs, liver, brain, and other organs.

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Cancers are said to be "in situ" (meaning "in place") when they have not spread beyond their original site of origin. Cancers that have spread - either locally or to distant sites in the body - are called "invasive" or "infiltrating" cancers.

• Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is the most common type of noninvasive cancer. Confined to the milk ducts, with no spread into the fatty tissue of the breast, DCIS is often discovered by mammography before a palpable lump is present. Nearly all women diagnosed at this stage of breast cancer can be cured.
• Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS), a less common variety of cancer that usually develops before menopause, is found in the cells that line the milk-producing lobules.
• Infiltrating (or invasive) ductal carcinoma (IDC) is the most commonly diagnosed breast cancer, and accounts for approximately 80 percent of all invasive breast cancers. Originating in one of the milk ducts, the cancer has broken through the walls of the duct and invaded the fatty tissue of the breast. IDC can continue to spread through the lymphatic system and bloodstream to distant sites in the body.
• Infiltrating (or invasive) lobular carcinoma (ILC), which originates in the milk-producing glands, accounts for approximately ten percent of invasive breast cancers. This type of cancer is more difficult to detect on mammography than ductal cancers.
• There are also a number of other types of uncommon breast cancers that originate in other areas of the breast, including medullary carcinoma, tubular carcinoma, and mucinous carcinoma, as well as a rare form of breast cancer known as inflammatory breast cancer.

Thanks to the advent of precise, widely available screening/diagnostic tools and effective treatment options, today women with breast cancer are living longer, healthier lives with fewer treatment-related side-effects.

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