The breasts may feel lumpy and the nipple may discharge a clear or slightly cloudy liquid. Benign breast lumps such as fibroadenomas or papillomas are quite common growths. They cannot spread outside of the breast to other organs. Talk to your doctor about whether he or she feels it necessary to remove these lumps. This report only refers to treating breast cancer, not benign breast conditions.
Breast cancer is an abnormal growth of cells that lines the ducts and the lobules.
The classification of types of breast cancer is based on whether the cancer started in the ducts or the lobules, whether the cells have invaded through the duct or lobule, and the appearance of the cancer under a microscope. In situ means that the cancer stays confined to ducts or lobules and has not invaded surrounding fatty tissues in the breast or spread to other organs in the body. It begins in the lobules, but does not penetrate through the lobule walls. Most breast cancer specialists think that LCIS, itself, does not usually become an invasive cancer, but women with this condition do run a higher risk of developing an invasive cancer in either breast. Cancer cells inside the ducts do not spread through the walls of the ducts into the fatty tissue of the breast.