Case Study Breast Cancer

More than 40,00 women in the United States are expected to die from breast cancer in 2015. Death rates for breast cancer are higher than any other cancer, besides lung cancer for women in the United States. In addition, American women are most commonly diagnosed with breast cancer over any other cancer with the exception of skin cancer. In fact, 1 in 8 women in the United States will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer at some point in their lifetime. Breast cancer is the number one diagnosed cancer among women worldwide. Even though women in the U.S are being diagnosed earlier than ever, near 300,000 women are expected to be diagnosed this year alone, and death rates have been on a steady decline since 1989, due to increased awareness, advancements in treatment and earlier detection through screening, breast cancer is still the leading cause of death by cancer among women worldwide. Although a great amount of research and funding, at least 1.5 billion dollars yearly, is allocated to studying breast cancer, there is still a lot to be learned about the …show more content…
IDC develops in the breast tissue of the milk ducts but spreads past the walls of the ducts into the surrounding fatty tissue of the breast. IDC is able to metastasize to the lymph nodes through the lymphatic system or other parts of the body through the blood stream. The second most common type of breast cancer is invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC). Approximately 1in 10 invasive breast cancers are diagnosed as ILC, however it is usually more difficult to detect by a mammogram that IDC. ILC differs from IDC in that ILC begins to develop in the cells that line the lobules, milk producing glands, of the breast. This type of cancer has spread past the walls of the lobules and attacked surrounding breast tissue. Similarly, ILC can metastasize outside of the breast to other areas of the