Breast cancer can take on many forms and may be referred to by any of the following terms.
Ductal Carcinoma – Breast cancer located in the lining of the milk ducts.
Lobular Carcinoma – Breast cancer located in the milk glands.
Invasive – Breast cancer that spreads beyond where it began in the breast to surrounding tissue, also referred to as metastasizing. About 230,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer cases occur each year.
Non-Invasive - Breast cancer that is confined to where in the breast it began. About 50,000 cases of non-invasive breast cancer occur each year.
Hormone-Receptor Positive – This means the breast cancer tumor cells contains hormone receptors. Hormone therapy can be used to block estrogen and/or progesterone production in order to slow or stop the growth of hormone-sensitive (or hormone-dependent) breast cancers.
Hormone-Receptor Negative – This means the breast cancer tumor cells do not contain hormone receptors. Hormone therapy would not be an effective treatment to slow or stop the growth of a tumor.