Continuing our series on listing out Cancer alphabetically today, we explain to you the types of Cancer starting from the alphabet D.
1) Ductal Carcinoma
Ductal Carcinoma is one of the most common types of Breast Cancer which starts from the lining of the cells where milk ducts are present. These cells line up to the nipple where the breast milk is supplied.
The two types of Ductal Carcinoma called Invasive Ductal Carcinoma and Intraductal Carcinoma also called as Ductal Carcinoma in Situ.
Invasive Ductal Carcinoma starts from cells of milk duct which surrounds to nearby tissue and duct walls. They account for 80% of cancer in women and 90% in men. These cancers can spread to various other tissues of the body.
Ductal Carcinoma in SITU also known as Intraductal Carcinoma is an uncontrolled growth of cells within breast ducts. These are non-invasive which if left untreated the same can become invasive, however, the risk is low around 30-50% of women might get invasive cancer if they have suffered Intraductal Carcinoma.
Ductal Carcinoma shows symptoms such as
1) a lump in breast tissue.
2) Breast skin will be hard.
3) Swelling, Redness, and Rashes present on the breast.
4) Pain in breast and nipple.
5) Inverted Nipple
6) Discharge from Nipple
Diagnosis:
The ductal carcinoma, in general, can be diagnosed by a Mammogram where the doctor will take a biopsy of the tissue lining the duct and the specialist examines under a microscope to diagnose whether the carcinoma is present or not.
Other diagnoses to detect Ductal Carcinoma include
a) CT scan: Usage of powerful x-ray to detect the presence of cancer in the body.
b) MRI: Strong Magnet, Radio waves are used to generate scans of the body and detect cancer.
c) PET Scan: This includes injection of radioactive substance where the cancer cells absorb the radioactive substance and together with CT scan the cancer cells can be detected.
d) Bone Scan: A tracer will be injected by the doctor who detects if cancer has been spread to the bones.
e) Chest X-ray: Takes pictures of the chest using low-dose radiation of X-ray.
The Invasive Duct Carcinoma can be classified into different stages according to TNM Method. TNM denotes Tumour, Node, and Metastasis.
Stage 0: It is non-invasive that has occurred in ducts however it has not spread to other parts of the human body.
Stage IA: Small and invasive tumor has been formed but it hasn’t spread to other parts of the human body.
Stage IB: Cancer has spread to lymph nodes however the size of the cancer is less than 2mm. But there is no sign of a tumor.
Stage IIA: Can be various options such as cancer has spread to lymph nodes but not to distant body parts, smaller or equal to 20mm which has spread to underlying lymph nodes or might be between 20-50mm and has not spread to nearby lymph nodes.
Stage IIB: Tumour might be around 20-50mm and has spread to nearby lymph nodes, or it might be larger than 50mm and has not spread to nearby lymph nodes.
Stage IIIA: Cancer might have spread to lymph nodes and walls of the chest, but not spread to various other body parts or the cancer is more than 50mm and has spread to nearby lymph nodes.
Stage IIIB: You can notice cancer has spread to chest walls; there is a swelling or sores which can be detected on the breasts. The patient might be suffering from inflammatory breast cancer or cancer has not spread to other body parts.
Stage IIIC: A tumor of any size might have spread to nearby lymph nodes, chest and lymph nodes near the collarbone. But has not spread to various body parts.
Stage IV: cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes and other body parts. This can be diagnosed by your doctor early and can be discovered on the first visit.
Treatments for Ductal Cancer include:
Lumpectomy: This includes the surgery of the tumor along with the tissues surrounding the tumor which helps in removing the cancer cells.
Mastectomy: The surgeon will remove the entire breast, however it depends on the size of the tumor.
Radiation: Following surgery, radiation treatment might be provided to mitigate the risk of recurrent occurrence of cancer.
Hormone Therapy: The drugs are provided which helps in blocking or lowering the number of estrogens in the body. As estrogen helps in the growth of cancer cells drugs will be provided to minimize the production of estrogen
Chemotherapy: The medications target the cancer cells where the doctor advises this therapy to minimize the size of tumors and after surgery to kill any underlying cancer cells if the cells might have spread to various other body parts.
Targeted Therapy: The medications block cancer cells where the treatment might be provided with chemotherapy.
