Invasive ductal carcinoma Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Invasive ductal carcinoma - Research Paper Example A century and a half ago Rudolf Virchow’s seminal ideas linked inflammation with cancer; and opened avenues for comprehension of the scariest disease mankind continues to face. Virchow suggested the presence of â€Å"lymphoreticular infiltrate†, at the site of inflammation was indicative of cancer initiation. The researches in previous decade have offered support to the ideas of Virchow; that malignant tissues formed during cancers create an inflammatory microenvironment (Balkwill & Mantovani, 2001). Breast cancers arise from the epidermal lining of the terminal duct lobular unit. Cancerous cells either remain confined to the terminal duct lobular unit and the draining duct; or proliferate beyond the basement membrane to the adjacent tissue. While the former is referred to as in situ or non-invasive; the latter is called invasive or infiltrating carcinomas. A misnomer used in the classification of invasive carcinomas was ductal and lobular carcinomas; where the two were believed to arise from ducts and lobules respectively. It is now understood that both of these types of breast cancer have origin in the lobule. The invasive breast cancers are now classified on the basis of specific cellular growth patterns and morphology of cells. Breast cancers with distinct features are called invasive cancers of special type; and the rest referred to as of no special type (figure 1) (Sainsbury et al., 2000). Cancers of breasts are the most common affecting women, with 232,340 new cases of invasive breast cancers reported from USA alone (ACS, 2014). Survival rates for breast cancer for women in the age range of 50-69 years, for five years is estimated to be 80%, for younger women it is slightly lower (Coleman et al., 2004). It is the second most common cause of death in women (first in case of Hispanic women) in USA (CDC, 2013). 72-80% of the cases of breast cancer are those of Invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). The