Adenocarcinoma of the breast

Mammary adenocarcinoma is a type of cancer, in fact, a malignant tumor consisting of epithelial cells. Today is the most common oncological disease among women (1 in 9 women falls ill in the age range of 20-90 years). In developed countries, the number of breast cancer patients increased dramatically after the 1970s. It is considered that the reason for this is that in modern women the period of natural breastfeeding has greatly decreased, the birth rate of children in the family has also decreased.

Types, forms of adenocarcinoma of the mammary gland

To date, there are 2 main types of breast adenocarcinoma:

1. Protocoque cancer . The neoplasm is located directly in the mammary duct.
2. Lobular (lobular) cancer. A tumor affects the lobules of the breast (one or more).

There are 5 forms of adenocarcinoma:

• infiltrative ductal cancer is the most common form of the tumor;
• inflammatory cancer;
• medullary cancer;
• cancer Paget - halo and nipple subjected to defeat;
• papillary cancer (a form of protocol breast cancer) - is extremely rare (only 1% of the number of recorded cases).

The main properties of breast tumors directly depend on the differentiation of their cells:

1. Highly differentiated mammary adenocarcinoma retains producing functions, its structure is very similar to the structure of the tissue that formed it.
2. Medium- or little-differentiated tumor - structural similarity is not so obvious.
3. Undifferentiated - it is difficult to determine the tissue affiliation, is considered the most dangerous and malignant tumor.

Prognosis for mammary adenocarcinoma

There are many factors influencing the prognosis, the main one of which is the invasiveness of the tumor, that is, its ability to increase dramatically and give metastases. If the tumor was diagnosed in a timely manner and did not reach a size of more than 2 cm, then the forecast in most cases is favorable. Also positive signs are: the absence of metastases, the tumor did not grow into tissues, the tumor is highly differentiated.

Treatment of adenocarcinoma of the breast mainly consists of complete surgical removal of damaged and part of healthy tissue or irradiation of the gland with X-rays. In the invasive form of cancer, in addition to surgery, a set of procedures is also prescribed: radiation, hormonal and chemotherapy.